With 23,800 residents relying on healthcare through the Affordable Care Act within his 13th Congressional district, Congressman Adriano Espaillat blasted the so-called “Empire State Kickback” provision, the Republican-led provision that cuts off billions of dollars of Medicaid to New York State. Attached to the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the stipulation could see low-income residents thinking twice about seeing the doctor.

“This provision is a shameful political ploy dressed as an attempt to lower local property taxes,” Espaillat, whose comments came on the heels of Congress voting on the AHCA, said in a statement.

For weeks, the Republican-led Congress has attempted to push through a revised healthcare bill in response to the Affordable Care Act developed by the Obama White House back in 2010. Democrats argue the bill could cut off healthcare to 2.7 million New Yorkers, while holding back $6.9 billion in funding for the state.

Espaillat, representing the Norwood section of the Bronx, said the amendment is “almost as shameful as the Republicans calling their bill healthcare reform instead of acknowledging that it is a tax reform benefitting the wealthy and irrevocably harming the most underserved communities.”

The AHCA bill offers tax credits to individuals to cover the cost of healthcare and tax breaks on the wealthy who’ve shouldered a lot of the costs under the ACA act. The bill would also phase out the ACA by January 1, 2020. States, meantime, can still enroll residents in the ACA.

Espaillat and his fellow Democrats are expected to vote no on the bill.

Espaillat’s comments also come amid rancor over the so-called Collins-Faso amendment, which shifts $2.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from counties to the state. The bill is named after New York congressional representatives Chris Collins and John Faso.