By Katherine Klein, Equality for All Advocacy Coordinator

Published in the The Clarion-Ledger

In 1964, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in such areas as voting rights, employment and education on the basis of a person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

The goal of this act — to eliminate racial and gender inequalities in the provision of public services — is threatened by the American Health Care Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month and is now on its way to being considered by the U.S. Senate. Inequities that already persist in our current health care system will only be compounded if the act were to become law.

The American Health Care Act is the latest effort by congressional Republicans to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. It will adversely affect millions of Americans, but will disproportionately impact people of color, women and individuals with disabilities. Gov. Bryant’s refusal to expand Medicaid has left 138,000 low-income Mississippians uninsured, and the American Health Care Act proposes to cut Medicaid further by almost a trillion dollars. This will have an overwhelming impact on people of color in Mississippi.

According to 2015 figures from the Center for Mississippi Health Policy, only 16 percent of whites are uninsured, compared to 21 percent of African-Americans, 29 percent of Native Americans and 51 percent of Latinos. This decreased funding will affect not only those who have Medicaid directly but also will cause a host of other programs, such as special education services in public schools, to become dangerously underfunded.

The American Health Care Act will also disproportionately harm women. Maternity care is one of the 10 essential health benefits the Affordable Care Act requires health care providers to cover. The new health care plan eliminates this requirement. According to the Center for American Progress, this could mean new mothers would pay up to $17,000 in additional charges under the new health care plan. Even for women not seeking maternity care, the plan would be a disadvantage to women. For example, currently having, or having had, conditions such as breast cancer or ovarian cancer could cause a woman to be denied coverage. Inexplicably, prostate cancer would not have the same effect for men.

The Republican plan would also defund Planned Parenthood for a year, an organization that provides women, particularly low-income women, with critical health services and measures to prevent pregnancy. In this case, the prevention of pregnancy does not mean abortions; it means the provision of counseling, education, and birth control prescriptions that help prevent unintended pregnancies. Planned Parenthood receives no federal money for abortion services. Defunding Planned Parenthood means fewer women will have access to these services, fewer options in health care provisions and consequently the number of abortions will likely increase.

Finally, the American Health Care Act would be devastating for those with disabilities or preexisting conditions. Those who have insurance under the Affordable Care Act could see their monthly costs rise, making insurance no longer affordable. For many with chronic health conditions, being uninsured is essentially a death sentence. The lack of health care coverage will also likely mean chronically ill people will be unable to access routine health care and will instead seek treatment in emergency rooms, an alternative that drives up health care costs for everyone.

Health care is costly, and designing a health insurance system that is affordable for all Americans is a monumental task. The ACA was a step in the right direction, but no one claims that it could not be made better. However, the aim of the American Health Care Act is not to improve the ACA. The aim of the bill is to dismantle the coverage guarantees the ACA created. The net effect of the American Health Care Act would be a loss to the poor and the sick, who will be either priced out of the health insurance market or excluded by preexisting conditions.

Mississippi’s refusal to expand Medicaid, and the House’s vote to dismantle the protections of the Affordable Care Act, reflect a failure of some elected representatives to put the well-being of all of their constituents above their desire to claim a “win” for their political party. Unlike the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate has said that it will take its time in evaluating the American Health Care Act. Let’s hope that means consideration for the effect that the act will have on all Americans.