FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 10, 2020
Contact: Will Pregman, [email protected], 702.752.0656
LAS VEGAS, NV – This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the case of California v. Texas.
Annette Magnus, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, said the following:
“As Nevada continued counting votes and networks called the presidential race for Joe Biden, COVID-19 cases surged to new levels, breaking records for new infections. In the largest public health crisis of our lifetimes, we need more health care for more people, not less. However, the Supreme Court decision in California v. Texas could take us in the wrong direction just as President Trump has over the past four years.
“Rather than protect and expand health care or lower drug prices, Trump spent four years trying to repeal the ACA, weaken Medicaid and Medicare and signing symbolic executive orders that don’t lower drug prices. In the last month before the election, his top priority was not COVID relief, but packing the Supreme Court with another right wing justice that opposes the ACA.”
“In defiance of past precedence, the legal opinions of experts across the political spectrum who argue that this case has no merit, and the harmful impact of overturning coverage for over 20 million people and pre-existing condition protections for 135 million more, the Court could refuse to uphold the ACA.”
“Repealing the ACA would throw Nevada’s health care system into chaos: 313,000 could lose their coverage, 1,258,000 would lose pre-existing condition protections, 33,469 seniors would have to pay more for prescription medicines, etc. While millions of Americans would lose coverage and protections, leaving them even more susceptible to the impacts of COVID, prescription drug corporations would receive a massive tax break from the repeal amounting to $2.8 billion annually and the richest Nevadans would collectively receive $420 million in tax breaks.”
“The Supreme Court must uphold the ACA as the law of the land for the sake of our democracy and our health. The justices must prioritize sound legal judgement and the well being of the nation over President Trump’s anti-health care legacy.”
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