While the Trump administration was preparing a brief supporting the Republican states' Supreme Court case to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Vice President Joe Biden was speaking to the nation about health care. “Mr. President, drop the lawsuit. Stop trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Stop taking away people's health care and their peace of mind. Now more than ever, strop trying to steal their peace of mind."
Good luck with that. Biden pointed out that COVID-19, which is now ravaging the U.S., will become a preexisting condition that insurance companies could deny coverage for if that prohibition is overturned with the law. "Some survivors will experience lasting health impacts—like lung scarring and heart damage," he said. "And if Donald Trump prevails in court, insurers would be allowed to strip away coverage or jack up premiums simply because of their battle with the coronavirus," Biden said. "I cannot comprehend the cruelty he is inflicting on the very people he is supposed to serve," he said.
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"They would live their lives caught in a vise between Donald Trump's twin legacies: his failure to protect the American people from the coronavirus, and his heartless crusade to take health care protections away from American families," Biden said. There were already—preconoravirus—some 133 million people with preexisting conditions who could lose their coverage if Trump and Republican governors succeed in this reckless case. Immediately, more than 23 million people and counting would be stripped of their health insurance, up from 20 million prepandemic. There will be more jobs lost in this pandemic. There will be more people needing to go onto expanded Medicaid and Obamacare plans. Plans that might not be there for them after the court rules in the fall.
Here's what else will be gone if Trump wins this case:
- Public Health and Prevention Fund
- Marketplace tax credits and coverage for ~10 million people
- Medicaid expansion currently covering ~17 million people
- Allowing kids to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26
- Ban on annual and lifetime limits
- Ban on insurance discrimination against women
- Limit on out-of-pocket costs
- Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
- Essential Health Benefits
- Required improvements to employer-sponsored coverage
- Rules to hold insurance companies accountable
- Small business tax credits
It sure as hell won't be there for them if Trump wins reelection and the Senate stays in Republican hands. If an election had ever been an existential event, it is this one.
