Editorial: Congress must join appeal to defend the ACA
By most accounts, the blue wave that gave Democrats a 36-seat advantage and control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in eight years came largely because of the effectiveness of their message on health care, in part a promise for protection of the Affordable Care Act and its provisions.
The ACA, also known as Obamacare, since its passage in 2010 has had a long fight to find support among the public, but a tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation in late November found that 53 percent had a generally favorable opinion of the ACA, while 40 percent held an unfavorable opinion. There’s even greater support for the ACA’s provisions, including 9 in 10 Americans in a KFF poll last June who considered it important that protections for those with pre-existing conditions remain law.
If Americans considered those protections to be under threat, they were right to be concerned; less than a month after the November election, a U.S. District Court judge in Texas ruled in favor of a lawsuit by a group of Republican state attorneys general and governors, that declared the entirety of the ACA as unconstitutional. Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that because Congress had earlier repealed the ACA’s tax penalty for those who declined to obtain health insurance, the entire law was thus unconstitutional.
The same judge later issued a stay while his ruling is appealed, which is likely to be heard in the end by the U.S. Supreme Court.
What’s at stake in that appeal if the ACA is ultimately struck down?
Between 17 million and 20 million Americans would lose health insurance coverage, including those who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid in a number of states, including Washington state.
Insurers will no longer be required to offer insurance coverage to young adults up to age 26 through their parents’ insurance.
Insurers will again be able to impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage, and caps on out-of-pocket costs will be eliminated.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-congress-must-join-appeal-to-defend-the-aca/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=2b02945eec-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-2b02945eec-228635337
