Washington, DC — Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and health care storytellers from Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina joined Protect Our Care to discuss what’s at stake for Americans’ health care and the Affordable Care Act on Election Day. President Trump has completely fumbled his response to the coronavirus pandemic and has taken every opportunity to undermine Americans’ health care. Just one week after Election Day, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, Trump’s lawsuit to overturn the ACA. The lawsuit would rip coverage from more than 20 million Americans, remove protections for 135 million people with pre-existing conditions and throw the entire health care system into chaos in the midst of a global pandemic.
“We are in a life or death election for the health of the American people,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Americans’ health care will never be safe with Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. While Republicans keep trying to tear down protections for people with pre-existing conditions, when we expand the Democratic House, win the Senate Majority and elect Joe Biden President, we will defend the pre-existing condition benefit and deliver lower health costs and prescription drug prices for every American.”
“The Affordable Care Act, to me, is a tool that helps elevate people out of poverty. It’s one of many tools that we, as Americans, have at our disposal and to think next week it could possibly be struck down really puts a lot of fear in people in our community,” said Marcos Castillo, a paralyzed car crash survivor from Arizona.
“I think it’s more important than ever to listen to the people whose lives are at stake because 135 million Americans have pre-existing conditions, and many of us are uninsurable without the Affordable Care Act,” said Laura Packard, a stage 4 cancer survivor from Colorado. “We could die if we didn’t have insurance, so every time Republicans in Congress and Trump talk about dismantling the Affordable Care Act, what they’re saying is that millions of Americans would have to go without health care because it’s more important to give tax breaks to billionaires than to make sure every American gets the health care that they need.”
“I don’t believe we can have quality of life without health care,” said Rev. Leela Waller, a type 1 diabetic and COVID-19 survivor from Georgia. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and health care is truly, truly important for all Americans.”
“They are trying to rip health care away while lying in our face saying, ‘Oh, there’s a plan.’ There’s not a plan. If there was a plan, we would have seen the plan. There’s no plan. Please stop lying to the American people,” said DonnaMarie Woodson, a cancer survivor from North Carolina. “All of us deserve to have health care. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity. It’s truly a live or die election.”
“This is a health care election. After four years, voters finally have a chance to hold President Trump accountable for his war on Americans’ health care,” said Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse. “Since taking office, he has made the wrong choices for Americans’ health care at every turn. He’s completely failed to respond to coronavirus. He’s threatened to overturn the Affordable Care Act. When he couldn’t accomplish that legislatively, he backed a lawsuit to dismantle the health care law and installed handpicked anti-ACA justices on the Supreme Court to do his bidding. On top of all that, he continues to lie about having a plan to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions. Another four years of Trump would be a disaster for health care.”