Center for Rural Affairs calls failure to close health coverage gap “unconscionable”

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Rhea Landholm, brand marketing and communications manager, [email protected] or 402.687.2100 ext. 1025

Lyons, Nebraska - Today, a bracket motion to LB 1032 - the Transitional Health Insurance Program Act - successfully doomed the legislation and any chance of closing Nebraska’s health coverage gap in 2016. Twenty eight senators voted to bracket LB 1032 until after the session, effectively killing the bill.

“Failing to pass LB 1032 will doom tens of thousands of working Nebraskans, from cities, small towns and rural areas, to the continued economic struggle of living without access to affordable health insurance. It will cost lives. It will also cost insurance premium savings for those who already have insurance. And it will cost Nebraska as many as 10,000 new healthcare jobs.
Lauren Kolojejchick-Kotch, Center for Rural Affairs
 

“We have struggled for 4 years to close the health coverage gap in Nebraska. We applaud the 20 Senators who stood up for the Nebraskans who fall into the gap, and especially for the sponsors,” added Kolojejchick-Kotch. “Senator John McCollister and all the Senators who joined him and worked so hard to address this crucial issue have shown courage and leadership by standing up for tens of thousands of working, uninsured Nebraskans.”

“We’ve worked with these Senators and our organizational allies for four years, presenting solutions to the challenge of the health coverage gap each and every year,” continued Kolojejchick-Kotch. “However, opponents have yet to offer any real solutions to the stern challenges in our current healthcare system. Nebraskans who fall into the gap work hard, the vast majority have sought and secured a job and work full-time or very near it. They deserve a chance at a happier, healthier life.”
 
“The 28 senators who stood in the way of passage of LB 1032 owe real solutions to the Nebraskans who live in the health coverage gap, not just partisan rhetoric, political posturing, and empty words,” concluded Kolojejchick-Kotch. “Voting to preserve a public policy of negligence that leaves 97,000 Nebraskans by the side of the road with no health care options is unconscionable.”

 

The Center for Rural Affairs is a private nonprofit specializing in strengthening small businesses, rural communities, and family farms and ranches.