Des Moines Register Editorial: Joni Ernst Should Oppose Lawsuit to End Pre-Existing Conditions Protections

Editorial Board Calls on Ernst to Oppose Lawsuit That Has “Disastrous Consequences for Iowans”

In an editorial, the Des Moines Register called on Senator Joni Ernst to oppose the dangerous GOP lawsuit that would eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions and end Medicaid expansion and other benefits Iowans rely on in the middle of this public health crisis. The Register wrote that if successful, the lawsuit to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act would have “disastrous consequences for Iowans.”

Senator Ernst “sparked” this lawsuit with her 2017 vote for the Republican tax law and has refused to oppose or take action to stop the lawsuit since then. So far this cycle, Senator Ernst has dodged questions about the lawsuit with answers like “I’m not saying whether I support it or not” and “I am not an attorney.”

Ernst has a long history of voting to tear down the health care law, has bragged about having the “courage” to gut coverage protections that Iowans with pre-existing conditions rely on, and has repeatedly supported toxic junk health care plans that fail a critical “litmus test for anyone who claims to support protecting people with preexisting conditions.” And now, in the middle of a global pandemic, Ernst and other Senate Republicans have no plan to help the millions of Americans who are newly unemployed and uninsured. Even as millions have lost their employer-provided health coverage, Ernst and Senate Republicans “see no need to act on health care” and are keeping a special enrollment period closed – making it even harder for Americans to get coverage now. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Des Moines Register: Editorial: Republicans should withdraw lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act; having health insurance is crucial in a pandemic

June 10, 2020

Key Points:

• Perhaps [Kim Reynolds] and other GOP leaders could use their cozy relationship with the president to actually help Americans during this health crisis. They should try to persuade him to put an end to a lawsuit that could destroy the Affordable Care Act.

• The Supreme Court is set to hear the case this fall. It was brought by Republican-led states and backed by the Trump administration. The result could be striking down most or all of the health reform law, which would have disastrous consequences for Iowans.

• Along with other Americans, we could lose the expansion of Medicaid and federal subsidies that help Iowans pay for private insurance. We could lose protections for people with preexisting conditions and coverage for young adults under their parents’ health insurance. 

• It is not only individual Iowans who would suffer. When people don’t have insurance, health providers and hospitals are not paid to treat them. The ensuing loss of revenue would compromise health services and infrastructure needed by all of us.

• [Iowa Attorney General Tom] Miller supports the ACA and is part of a 20-state coalition of Democrats who want the Supreme Court to uphold it. He said the best possible outcome would be for states and the Trump administration to withdraw the lawsuit.

• Reynolds, as well as Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, should encourage exactly that. 

• For a decade, GOP politicians have challenged the law with votes to repeal it, lawsuits and refusal to make legislative fixes, while never providing a viable alternative.

• The ACA has been implemented in every state. It allows entrepreneurs and early retirees to buy coverage on their own without the help of an employer. That is especially important as millions of Americans have lost their jobs in recent months. 

• It’s also pretty darn important for Americans to have health care during an infectious disease pandemic. 

Read the full editorial here.