In the days leading up to Tax Day, HEP ran an informational campaign that connected the dots between the huge tax cuts to corporations in the Tax Bill, the resulting deficit, and anticipated cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and SNAP, and New York’s Essential Plan for low-income residents.
HEP and its allies kept up the pressure on New York State to increase healthcare funding for New Yorkers in the face of heavy federal cuts. Albany went on to increase the amount of healthcare funding in the state budget.
HEP was an active part of the broad movement that stopped the complete repeal of the ACA by legislators in 2017. Since then HEP has continued to spread public awareness about the ways that the ACA was being undermined, such as the repeal of the individual mandate and the end of cost-sharing subsidies.
HEP continues to educate the community about the higher insurance premiums that health insurers are seeking for 2019, even as they saw enormous profits, some as much as a 145 percent increase, as a result of the tax bill.