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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

CA Senior Advocates Slam Efforts to Revive GOP Health Plan

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017   

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - As members of Congress return home for their spring recess, they're starting to hear from seniors in their districts who oppose any attempt to revive the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare.

The American Health Care Act was withdrawn at the end of March when it couldn't get enough votes, but negotiations are under way to attract the support of the conservative Freedom Caucus. Blanca Castro, advocacy manager with AARP California, said that could mean gutting protections for people with pre-existing conditions. She said volunteers are fanning out in each of California's 53 congressional districts to make their point.

"They're either scheduling meetings or attending local events that local members of Congress may be hosting," she said, "and urging not bringing up a repeal of the Affordable Care Act unless there is a replacement that will keep people with pre-existing conditions covered."

AHCA supporters say it would free people from the government mandate to get insurance, lift burdensome regulations and encourage more competition among insurers. However, a recent study showed 2.6 million Californians between ages 50 and 64 have pre-existing medical conditions and would be at risk of being dropped from their insurance or priced out of the market if the AHCA or an equivalent passes.

Castro said the first Republican proposal also contained a provision allowing insurance companies to charge seniors a lot more in premiums than younger customers.

"The proposal that they had before would have left millions of people without any health insurance," she said, "because the 'age tax' rating that they were proposing required people who are older to pay up to five times more."

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan's first proposal also would have slashed billions of dollars from Medicaid, forcing millions of lower-income people off the program and into the high-priced individual insurance market to get coverage.


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