Maine Beacon - The Affordable Care Act is once again in the crosshairs of the
Republican Party and this time the means of attack is the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Advocates are warning that should nominee Brett Kavanaugh have a
chance to rule on one of the pending challenges to the health care law,
130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions are at risk of losing
coverage.
“Anybody who thinks [the ACA] is not going to be litigated sometime in the future is nuts,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) candidly told a reporter last week after meeting with Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the now empty U.S. Supreme Court seat.
Health care groups say that the conservative Washington, D.C. Circuit
Court judge would not only move the court further right on many issues,
but that he has a particularly troubling record when it comes to health
care.
...One case that could invalidate the ACA entirely is Texas v. Azar,
in which a group of 20 Republican attorneys general and governors,
including Governor Paul LePage, are arguing that the repeal of the
individual mandate penalty passed in the GOP tax law renders the ACA
unconstitutional, and by extension protections for people with
pre-existing conditions are also moot.
Sen. Susan Collins, who is seen as a pivotal swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation, wrote
to the Department of Justice in June expressing “concern” for
individuals with pre-existing conditions should the lawsuit succeed.
“This is no small matter,” Collins wrote. “Fifty-seven percent of
Americans responding to a poll said that they or someone in their
household suffers from a pre-existing condition. These numbers include
590,000 Mainers, roughly 45 percent of the state’s population.”
1 comment:
Illinois has a law requiring Automobile Insurance, and there isn't even a murmur of discontent from Any Republican.
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