Senate Republicans Once Again Turn Their Backs On People With Pre-existing Conditions With Anti-Health Care Vote
Washington DC — Today, on a party-line vote, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to allow Chad Readler’s nomination to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to proceed to the full Senate for debate and a vote. Readler led the effort in the Trump Justice Department to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions by filing a brief on behalf of the Trump administration in Texas v. United States arguing in favor of striking down the Affordable Care Act’s provisions to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage, or charging more because of a pre-existing condition. In December 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in favor of the Republican plaintiffs and said the entire ACA should be struck down. Now, Mitch McConnell is breaking with longstanding Senate norms to jam through this nomination by ignoring the objections of Readler’s home state senator, Sherrod Brown. Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement:
“A vote for Chad Readler is a vote for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. His confirmation vote is a litmus test for Republican’s claims to protect people pre-existing conditions and today they failed that test. Readler wants to go back to the days where insurance companies could deny, drop or charge more for coverage and end protections for millions of people with pre-existing conditions. The stakes couldn’t be clearer, the full Senate must stand up for people with pre-existing conditions and block Chad Readler from a lifetime appointment to the court.”
Background:
As Acting Assistant Attorney General, Chad Readler filed a brief on behalf of the Trump administration in Texas v. United States arguing that protections for people with pre-existing conditions under the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. This put the full weight of the Department of Justice behind the Republican war on health care to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA). In December, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Republican plaintiffs, striking down the entire ACA. If this ruling is allowed to stand:
- Marketplace tax credits and coverage for 10 million people: GONE.
- Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people: GONE.
- Protections for more than 130 million people with pre-existing conditions when they buy coverage on their own: GONE.
- Allowing children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26: GONE.
- Free annual wellness exams: GONE.
- Ban on annual and lifetime limits: GONE.
- Ban on insurance discrimination against women: GONE.
- Contraception with no out-of-pocket costs: GONE.
- Limit on out-of-pocket costs: GONE.
- Requirement that insurance companies cover essential benefits like prescription drugs, maternity care, and hospitalization: GONE.
- Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs: GONE.
- Closed Medicare prescription drug donut hole: GONE.
- Rules to hold insurance companies accountable: GONE.
- Small business tax credits: GONE.