Another ruling maintains health care access and critical protections
WASHINGTON — In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling today in California v. Texas, which rejected a challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care for America Now Executive Director Margarida Jorge released the following statement:
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for families across America, including the 23 million people who were immediately at risk of losing their coverage under the ACA during a pandemic. The Court’s finding that the plaintiffs who sought to overturn the ACA lacked standing to challenge it shows that this was yet another politically motivated attack with no Constitutional basis.
“For more than ten years the Affordable Care Act has saved thousands of lives, protected hundreds of millions of people with pre-existing conditions from discrimination and higher costs, and reined in health insurance companies’ control to deny and delay our care. The ACA withstood years of threats from the Trump administration and other political opponents because people from all walks of life saw the ACA improve their lives and fought tirelessly to protect it from countless political attacks. Over the past year in particular, the ACA has been a lifeline for people who lost their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensured that more than eight million COVID-19 survivors will not be denied health care due to pre-existing conditions. Republican officials who have led the charge to repeal the ACA should throw in the towel once and for all and focus on supporting real health care solutions for the people they serve.
“Despite today’s ruling, there’s still a lot of work to ensure everyone in America can get access to affordable health care. Congress must continue to build on the ACA, starting with closing the Medicaid coverage gap and making permanent the affordability increases in the ACA’s premium tax credits passed under the American Rescue Plan.”
