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Statement

Trump’s Victory on the Affordable Care Act Puts Coverage for America’s Moms and Families in Jeopardy

December 18, 2019
Health Care

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising, an on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on today’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Affordable Care Act:

“The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals should have soundly rejected the arguments made by Republican-led states and the Trump administration and ruled conclusively that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is and will remain the law of the land. Instead, it ruled the law's individual mandate unconstitutional, and sent the case back to a hostile lower court to reconsider whether that should invalidate the entire law. Today’s ruling forces millions of people with pre-existing conditions—and those who rely on the ACA for their health care—to live with uncertainty and without the guarantee of future coverage they need and deserve.

“If ACA opponents prevail, 20 million people will lose their health insurance. Some 133 million people—the majority of whom are women—with pre-existing conditions could be stripped of their protections. People with chronic or serious medical conditions will face annual and lifetime caps on care. Seniors will lose the discounts the ACA provides for their prescription medications. All those who rely on the Medicaid expansion the ACA made possible, and adult children who use their parents’ insurance, could lose their coverage.

"This case threatens to throw our entire health care system into disarray and return us to the time when insurers charged women more than men for the same plans, denied coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, prescription drugs, maternity care, and mental health services, and imposed caps that took away our coverage when we got sick and need it most.

“The Trump administration failed to overturn the ACA in Congress because the public supports health care. Then the administration defied the will of the people and the will of Congress and tried to undermine the law in court.  No question: The Trump administration's policies have been sharply focused on taking health care away from people, despite the fact that moms and others across our nation have spoken loudly and clearly that we all need health care. This is a shameful situation. The continuing uncertainty about the ACA serves the Trump administration, which wants to repeal and not replace this law. But it is a disaster for the country. We deserve better.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.