It couldn’t be clearer that health care is on the ballot in November as new reporting from the Washington Post highlights the threat the Republican-led lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act poses to Medicaid expansion. If successful, the GOP lawsuit would not only gut protections for the millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, it would also take away coverage from the 15 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid under the ACA’s expansion.
Amid a global public health and economic crisis, with millions of Americans newly unemployed and uninsured, nearly 4 million Americans gained coverage through Medicaid between February and June and over the spring and early summer enrollment grew by another 6.2%. That means that “more than one in five Americans – about 75 million – now rely on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program for their coverage.” And “the outcome of the ACA lawsuit could affect their coverage.”
Just one week after the election, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear oral arguments in the Republican lawsuit that threatens health coverage for millions of Americans. Reminder: Senate Republican incumbents and candidates are on record either supporting or refusing to oppose this lawsuit and Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are furiously rushing to fill the Supreme Court vacancy with a nominee hostile to the Affordable Care Act, further increasing “the court’s chances of knocking down some or all of the 2010 health care law.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Washington Post: The Health 202: Republican-backed ACA lawsuit also threatens Medicaid as enrollment grows during pandemic
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
October 9, 2020
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