June 26, 2020/Press

With Tillis’ Backing, Republicans “Pointedly Arguing” that “The Entire ACA Must Fall” and “Pre-Existing Condition Rules Must Be Overturned”

With Senator Tillis’ support, the Trump administration continued its push to end the Affordable Care Act and protections for people with pre-existing conditions yesterday, submitting legal briefs stating that “the entire ACA must fall” and “pointedly arguing” that protections pre-existing conditions must be overturned.

Senator Tillis threw his support behind this lawsuit last year, saying, when specifically asked about the lawsuit, “I support anything that ultimately takes [the ACA] off the table.” He’s tried to paper over his support of this lawsuit and record voting to “take away” protections for pre-existing conditions with a sham bill that “would do little to protect people with pre-existing conditions” and “does not address other core parts of the health law that could be struck down.”

The Republican push came the same day that a government report showed “nearly half a million Americans turned to the ACA in April and May amid covid-19′s economic devastation.” This effort would kick more than 600,000 North Carolinians off their insurance, according to a new analysis, while bestowing a tax giveaway to “the highest-income Americans and certain corporations” and creating “a massive transfer of resources from low- and moderate-income people to those at the top of the income scale,” according to a separate report.

“Senator Tillis’ support for a reckless effort to rip away protections for people with a pre-existing condition along with the entirety of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a public health and economic crisis is despicable,” NCDP spokesperson Robert Howard said. “North Carolinians know Senator Tillis will never stand up for the vital protections they depend on and will hold him accountable for his continued attacks against their health care this fall.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NBC News: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare amid pandemic, recession
By Sahil Kapur
June 26, 2020

  • The brief includes a section pointedly arguing that the Affordable Care Act’s pre-existing condition rules must be overturned as well. Those rules forbid insurers from turning away customers or charging them more on the basis of factors like age, gender and health status. The position contradicts Trump’s insistence that he will protect people with pre-existing conditions.

NPR: Obamacare Must ‘Fall,’ Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court
By Mark Katkov
June 26, 2020

  • Eliminating the ACA would end medical insurance for more than 20 million Americans. It would also end widely popular provisions of the law, such as extending parents’ coverage to children up to the age of 26 and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions.

Washington Post: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare
By Meagan Flynn and Tim Elfrink 
June 26, 2020

  • [Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco] argued that the provisions protecting Americans with preexisting conditions or high-risk medical histories are “inseverable” from the individual mandate, and therefore should be struck down with it.

Politico: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare
By Susannah Luthi
June 25, 2020

  • Trump has insisted that his predecessor’s signature legislative achievement must be overturned, despite the public health emergency. Shortly after Covid-19 emerged, Trump refused to reopen the law’s health insurance marketplaces to make it easier for uninsured people to get coverage, despite pleas from Democrats and some moderate Republicans.