Trump Can’t Defend Lawsuit That Would Take Away Protections for 130 Million Americans With Pre-existing Conditions Overnight
Washington, DC – In an interview with Axios, Donald Trump continued his attempts to cover up his lawsuit to eliminate pre-existing conditions protections. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, said in response:
“Every time the repealer-in-chief Donald Trump says he will protect people with pre-existing conditions from discrimination by Big Insurance, it’s a lie — and he knows it is. Continuing to lie when confronted with his own Administration’s position was as uncomfortable for us to watch as it would be for anyone with a conscience to actually do. Unfortunately, all Trump cares about is covering up the truth so he can maintain control of Congress. But his tight grip is in jeopardy because of Republicans’ own, years-long agenda of health care sabotage and repeal — which, of course, includes ripping away protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”
ICYMI: Jonathan Swan’s Sneak Peek in Axios Showcases Donald Trump Struggling to Conceal The GOP’s Lies On Health Care:
I pressed Trump during our interview to square one of the biggest contradictions of the midterms: His insistence that Republicans will protect people with pre-existing conditions while his Justice Department argues in court that those protections should be thrown out.
The intrigue: As I tried to hand Trump a copy of DOJ’s legal brief, he told me Attorney General Jeff Sessions hadn’t given him a heads-up before adopting this politically explosive position. But that contradicts Sessions’ explanation.
The big picture: The Justice Department is arguing that the courts should strike down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and toss out its protections for people with pre-existing conditions in the process.
- If that position ultimately prevails, millions of people could lose their coverage or see their costs skyrocket.
“It wouldn’t matter” if the ACA’s protections are struck down, Trump said, “because pre-existing conditions, on anything we do, will be put into it.”
- “I support terminating Obamacare, but if we terminate it, we will reinstitute pre-existing conditions in whatever we do,” he said.
But as Axios’ Sam Baker points out, in the eight years since the ACA passed, Republicans have never proposed an alternative that would offer the same level of protection. Their proposals have either been underfunded or have left gaps that would still expose some people to higher costs and denied coverage.