One month from today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the GOP-led lawsuit to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions, kick an estimated 20 million Americans off their health insurance, end Medicaid expansion for at least 12 million people, and cut other health care benefits while giving the richest 0.1% a massive tax windfall.
In the middle of a pandemic that has left millions of Americans unemployed and newly uninsured, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are furiously rushing to fill the Supreme Court vacancy with a nominee hostile to the Affordable Care Act in time for the high court to hear their lawsuit, further increasing “the court’s chances of knocking down some or all of the 2010 health care law.” A recent poll shows Americans in Senate battleground states “overwhelmingly disapprove” of the lawsuit, yet Republicans are ignoring voters’ wishes and plowing forward with their lawsuit, which helps explain why health care remains a massive “political liability” for the GOP that “could help determine control of the Senate.”
Senate Republican incumbents and candidates are on record either supporting or refusing to oppose this lawsuit. Last week, Senate Republicans voted to allow the Department of Justice to intervene in support of the lawsuit, with some of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents casting a stunt vote in a desperate attempt to cover up their attacks on the ACA and protections for pre-existing conditions coverage.
“Senate Republicans set this toxic lawsuit in motion with their vote for the massive corporate tax break and now they’re rushing to tilt the Supreme Court against the health care law just in time to hear this lawsuit,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “Despite their false campaign ads claiming to protect people with pre-existing conditions, the reality is Senate Republicans haven’t lifted a finger to stop this lawsuit that would rip away those coverage protections in the middle of a pandemic and have zero plan to keep those same protections in place if their lawsuit succeeds. Vulnerable Senate Republicans can’t escape their records of pushing to gut pre-existing conditions protections and this GOP lawsuit is yet another reminder to voters that Republicans will stop at nothing to take away their health care.”
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