Raleigh – The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just struck down “a linchpin of the Affordable Care Act” while maintaining that protections for people with pre-existing conditions and other important consumer benefits are still at risk, according to breaking news reports on a long awaited ruling on a reckless Republican lawsuit seeking to overturn the ACA.

Senator Tillis voted for the 2017 Republican tax bill that paved the way for this dangerous lawsuit, which experts this week warned could result in “chaos.” After dodging questions this summer when North Carolinians rallied to “call on Senator Tillis to take stand against ACA lawsuit,” Tillis reiterated his support for the lawsuit, saying he supports “anything” that takes the ACA “off the table.”

“Senator Tillis paved the way for this toxic lawsuit and reiterated his support for it this summer. Now it will hang over the heads of North Carolina families with pre-existing conditions who depend on vital health care protections to survive,” NCDP Chairman Wayne Goodwin said. “North Carolinians’ health care and protections for people with pre-existing conditions will not be safe until Senator Tillis is out of office.”

Senator Tillis’ support of this reckless lawsuit is part of his broader record attacking North Carolinians’ health care, which is a “huge vulnerability” for him heading into 2020:

• When the Senate debated repealing the health care law, Tillis said that he’d vote for “outright repeal” of the ACA “every time it comes to the floor” and later called the vote to gut pre-existing conditions protections “courageous” and said that he wanted to “take out the underpinnings of the Affordable Care Act.”

• This summer, Tillis bragged about blocking health care access for 500,000 North Carolinians, saying he “signed the bill that made it illegal to expand Medicaid.”

• Tillis has tried to paper over his toxic record by pushing a “false promise” that is long on “political cover” but “would do little to protect people with pre-existing conditions.”

• Tillis voted multiple times to support “junk” health insurance plans that can refuse to cover pre-existing conditions, prescription drugs, or maternity benefits, and are “so skimpy that they offer no meaningful coverage.”