Six of the nation's largest medical and insurance groups issued a joint statement Saturday urging lawmakers to reject the latest Republican-led effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, saying the bill "means that millions of patients will lose their coverage and go without much-needed care."

At issue is legislation sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would cut funding for Medicaid while establishing a block grant program supporters say would give states more flexibility in how they use the money. The legislation also gives states the ability to opt out of insurance coverage requirements.

The American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, America's Health Insurance Plans, BlueCross BlueShield Association and American Academy of Family Physicians all said the latest bill "will cause patients and consumers to lose important protections" in their statement.

"Without these guaranteed protections, people with significant medical conditions can be charged much higher premiums and some may not be able to buy coverage at all," the groups said.

AMA and other medical groups had previously spoken out against the legislation, but the latest statement was unusual in that both health providers and insurers joined together to express their opposition. The two industry sectors don't often see eye to eye, which they acknowledged.

"While we sometimes disagree on important issues in health care, we are in total agreement that Americans deserves a stable healthcare market that provides access to high-quality care and affordable coverage for all," the groups said.

Graham and Cassidy will debut a new version of their health care bill this week that includes more funding for Alaska, Maine and Arizona in an effort to win over holdout GOP senators from those states, according to news reports. The Senate must pass a health care bill before Sunday, otherwise they would need 60 votes rather than a simple majority for the legislation to advance, as spelled out in Senate rules. http://bit.ly/2jV6rHK

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