MISSOURI – Statement in response to the Supreme Court’s hearing of the California v. Texas lawsuit to determine the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act from Caitlyn Adams, Executive Director, Missouri Jobs with Justice:
“Whether we’re white, Black or brown, when it comes to our health, we all want to make sure we can prevent, treat or recover from illness or injury without fearing we’ll go bankrupt.
Today, certain politicians continue their attacks on our ability to get the care we all deserve to get and stay well with California v. Texas being heard in the United States Supreme Court.
Our state and country continues to see COVID cases surging and setting new record levels for infection putting more and more people’s health, livelihoods, and lives at risk. In the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes, we need more health care for more people, not less but the Supreme Court decision on California v. Texas could take us in the wrong direction just as President Trump has over the past four years.
Repealing the ACA would throw our health care system into chaos: 128,000 Missourians could lose their coverage, 2,495,900 Missourians would lose pre-existing condition protections – that’s over half of Missouri’s non-elderly population. That decision would have dire consequences for Missourians including Lindsey Simmons, a Kansas City mother of two, by eliminating lesser-known protections such as the limit on lifetime limits.
Lindsey was born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery and on-going care. As an adult, she suffered a subdural hematoma from a car accident that required hospitalization, several weeks of intense rehabilitation, and ongoing care and treatment. In her own words, “At this point my medical costs have been over $2 million, and have therefore exceeded the traditional lifetime limits on health insurance coverage. Without the ban on lifetime limits on health insurance coverage, I don’t know what I would do.”
Repealing the ACA would also force seniors to pay more for prescriptions. 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 households would collectively receive millions in tax breaks.
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, this court could refuse to uphold the ACA.
The Supreme Court must uphold the ACA as the law of the land and put aside partisan politics for the sake of our democracy and our health.”
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Missouri Jobs with Justice is a statewide grassroots coalition building transformative power for social, racial, and economic justice. Our individual and organizational members come together to hold decision makers accountable and to build a Missouri where opportunity exists for all regardless of race, identity, income, or immigration status. Follow our work at https://www.facebook.com/MissouriJobsWithJustice/ or www.mojwj.org
