Pelosi vows to fight Trump ‘war on health care’ after surprise court filing
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Days after the Trump administration moved in court to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would fight back.
“The Trump administration radically expanded its war on health care this week ... asking the court to strike down every last provision of the Affordable Care Act,” said Pelosi in a press conference Thursday. “We will fight that. We will fight that in the Congress, we will fight that in the court, and we’ll fight it in the court of public opinion.”
In a memo released Monday, the Justice Department announced it will not defend any part of the ACA — also known as Obamacare — in federal appeals court, reversing its position after having argued in favor of parts of the law in district court. A district court judge in Texas had ruled the entire program unconstitutional, in a suit brought by a number of Republican states.The Supreme Court has twice upheld the health care law.
The unexpected filing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the district court ruling is under appeal, came amid the administration’s celebrations of the ending of the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 presidential election. Attorney General William Barr said on Sunday that the report found no collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
When the Justice Department submitted its new filing in the ACA case Monday, Democrats seized on it as part of their messaging for the 2020 election. Health care is expected to be a uniting political strategy for Democrats, no matter which candidate receives the nomination.
In response to Trump’s renewed attack on Obamacare, House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill to strengthen the ACA. The bill, called Protecting Pre-existing Conditions and Making Health Care More Affordable Act, is intended to “improve the affordability of, undo sabotage with respect to, and increase access to health insurance coverage.”
If the health care law is repealed, 21 million people could be left uninsured and the nearly 52 million people living with preexisting conditions would be without future protections.
After the administration’s announcement, Trump on Tuesday said, “I understand health care now” and vowed to make the GOP the “party of great health care.” The following day, the president promised a better plan as he defended his decision to invalidate the law.
“If the Supreme Court rules that ObamaCare is out, we'll have a plan that is far better than ObamaCare,” said Trump. He has given no details of his proposed replacement.
The Republican Party will become “The Party of Healthcare!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 26, 2019
Republican senators, caught off-guard by the administration’s reversal, have scrambled to ensure coverage for preexisting conditions will continue in case the ACA is overturned before a replacement is in place. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is set to introduce an amendment Thursday to protect health care coverage for people with preexisting conditions.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised people with preexisting conditions that they would be covered under his health care plan. Democratic presidential candidates have joined the call to pass some version of a “Medicare for all” plan. But the latest twist in the court case may have given them a new, more urgent cause.
As Andy Slavitt, the former Medicare and Medicaid chief in the Obama administration, put it on Twitter, “Trump just made the 2020 election all about pre-existing conditions. Again.”
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