Trump's Justice Dept Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Obamacare

The Trump Administration just asked the Supreme Court to gut all of the Affordable Care Act and its protections for those with preexisting conditions. They want to take insurance away from you by crushing the landmark health care law that enabled millions of Americans to get insurance coverage.

In the midst of a global pandemic with the presidential election just months away, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health care law that enabled millions of Americans to get insurance coverage and that remains in effect despite the pending legal challenge.

In a late-night filing, Solicitor General Noel Francisco said that once the law's individual coverage mandate and two key provisions are invalidated, "the remainder of the ACA should not be allowed to remain in effect."

The case the court will hear grows out of a lawsuit that Republican officials in 20 states, led by Texas, filed against the Department of Health and Human Services in February 2018, seeking to have the health law struck down. After Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections, two states, Wisconsin and Maine, withdrew.

It’s unconscionable to do this during a deadly pandemic that has already killed more than 124,000 Americans and is nowhere close to being over. Trump is failing the American people—and more will die if he gets his way.

The administration’s argument, coming in the thick of an election season — as well as a pandemic that has devastated the economy and left millions of unemployed Americans without health coverage — is sure to reignite Washington’s bitter political debate over health care.

The court has not said when it will hear oral arguments, but they are most likely to take place in the fall, just as Americans are preparing to go to the polls in November.

If successful, the move would permanently end the health insurance program popularly known as Obamacare and wipe out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans

Every time you hear Trump talk about how he cares about America's health and wants to protect those with pre-existing conditions, just ask him this brief.  It's 100% clear: they have asked the Supreme Court to take it all away. All of it.

Democrats, who view health care a winning issue and who reclaimed the House majority in 2018 on their promise to expand access and bring down costs, are trying to use the Supreme Court case to press their advantage. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote for Monday on a measure to expand the health care law, in an effort to draw a sharp contrast between Democrats and Republicans.

“Trump and the Republicans’ campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty,” Ms. Pelosi said... “If Trump gets his way 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose the A.C.A.’s lifesaving protections and 23 million Americans will lose their health coverage entirely.”

Trump is STILL trying to take away your healthcare DURING a deadly pandemic.  He’s trying through executive orders and through Congress. And he’s trying through the courts. His policies are, literally, deadly.

Nearly half a million Americans turned to the federal Obamacare exchanges after losing health insurance coverage this year, new federal data shows.  

While open enrollment for 2020 plans ended in mid-December, those who lose coverage can sign up for Obamacare policies within 60 days at any point in the year.

Sign-ups spiked in April to more than double the number in prior Aprils, as millions of workers lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic. More people also enrolled in May than in prior years.

Overall, enrollment jumped 46% in the first five months of 2020 compared to the same period the year before.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/obamacare-trump-administration-supreme-court.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/obamacare-enrollment-jobs-trump/index.html