The Catholic Health Association, which represents 640 hospitals and 1,400 nursing homes, clinics and surgery centers, has come out swinging at President Donald Trump's plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
"This is a bill to move wealth from the lowest-income Americans to the wealthiest. That's an important thing for the people in this country to understand," the group's president Sister Carol Keehan told Crux, a prominent Catholic news and opinion website.
"You can't talk about how you are going to deliver healthcare without talking to the people who deliver it! And I think it was done in secret for a very good reason: because it is not a healthcare bill. It is not a repeal and replace."
Calling the GOP's American Health Care Act "utterly unconscionable," Keehan added the proposed legislation is merely a "companion" to tax cuts the Trump administration wants to make.
"If you read anything about Catholic social teaching, if you read what Pope Francis said about what ought to guide our decisions in healthcare, it is absolutely deplorable," she said.
On Wednesday, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said House Republicans need to deliver on their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare while moving forward with tax reform measures.
"There is $1 trillion of tax hikes we cut in that repeal bill that is important to getting the economy going and clearing the way for tax reform," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "We have to get this repeal done."
But half of American voters oppose a provision in the replacement bill that would allow states the option to opt-out of requiring health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, a Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals. Just 38 percent support it.
"When it comes to House Republicans' plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, there's one thing voters in both parties can agree on: They oppose weakening federal protections for those with pre-existing medical condition," Politico's Steven Shepard noted.
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