PRESS RELEASE
Stephanie Goss
API WELLNESS DENOUNCES HOUSE PASSAGE OF AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT
Senate called on to protect access to fair and equal health care for people of color and the LGBTQ community
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – API Wellness condemns the House of Representatives for voting in favor of the American Health Care Act (AHCA). If signed into law, the bill will leave millions of Americans without insurance coverage. It would also limit protections for people with pre-existing conditions, reduce federal Medicaid funding, and increase premiums for the most vulnerable, among other issues.
As San Francisco’s first LGBTQ-centered health home, API Wellness is tracking the potential impact on San Francisco’s people of color and LGBTQ communities. As one of 1,400 community health centers in the nation connected through the National Association of Community Health Centers, we are concerned about the negative impact this bill could have on 25 million low-income and underserved patients served through our network. The Medicaid reduction alone would put an estimated 3 million health center patients at risk of being uninsured over the next few years.
“We know that communities of color and the LGBTQ community face significant discrimination and lack of access to quality health care,” said Lance Toma, chief executive officer of API Wellness. “It’s time for all of us to stand together and move the fight to the Senate to prevent this bill from being enacted. The health of our communities depend on it.”
The next stage of the fight for fair and equal health coverage occurs in the United States Senate. API Wellness asks Senators to protect the promise of our nation’s health care system so that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.
About API Wellness
API Wellness is an LGBTQ and people of color community health center that transforms lives by advancing health, wellness, and equality. It believes everyone deserves to be healthy and needs access to the highest quality health care. At API Wellness, health care is grounded in social justice. With two locations, API Wellness is an anchor institution in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood and a comprehensive health home for the LGBTQ community in the Castro. API Wellness operates a fully licensed, federally qualified health center; runs one of the largest transgender community drop-in centers in the country; and is the premier HIV treatment and care provider for people living with HIV in the Tenderloin. For more information please visit www.apiwellness.org.