President Biden Continues to Fight to Protect Free Preventive Care for 150 Million Americans
Washington, DC — Today, the Department of Justice announced it was seeking a stay of the devastating ruling in Braidwood Management v. Becerra, which ends a major provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires no-cost coverage of lifesaving preventive health care services. Braidwood is the latest effort by ACA opponents and their Republican allies to dismantle American health care. As it stands, Judge O’Connor’s ruling applies nationwide and ends the benefits covered under the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, including lifesaving colorectal and other cancer screenings, anxiety and depression screenings for children and adults, heart disease screenings, and access to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), which can substantially reduce the chance of contracting HIV. Read more about the case here.
In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“Braidwood is a politically-driven effort to dismantle the ACA, brought by longtime foes of abortion rights, women’s health, LGBTQI+ rights, and affordable health care. Now, the same judge who ruled that the ACA should be overturned entirely is ending lifesaving protections under the health care law that 150 million Americans rely on. If Judge O’Connor’s ruling stands, more people will get sick, more people will die, and more people will have to choose between paying for health care and food or rent. The harm that will be caused by denying over 150 million people preventive health care is clear and irreparable. The court should act quickly to stay Judge O’Connor’s life-threatening decision.”