FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JUNE 3, 2021

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Health Care Voter, Protect Our Care & Others Discuss Impending Supreme Court Decision on Affordable Care Act—and What Comes Next

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, Health Care Voter hosted a press call with patient advocates and health policy experts to discuss the Supreme Court’s impending decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in California v. Texas. Speakers discussed what’s at stake if the ACA is repealed, and what is likely to come next for health care in the United States based on how the court decides the case.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Some key quotes from the call:

“It is critically important to remember who will continue to be the most harmed: communities of color, particularly Black, Latino, and Native people,” said Maura Calsyn, Managing Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress. “The same factors that drive health disparities [in these communities] also leave these communities disproportionately vulnerable if the ACA is struck down.”

“Financial assistance for nine million people to purchase health care will be gone,” said Brad Woodhouse, Executive Director of Protect Our Care. “Twenty-one million people in this country will lose coverage in the middle of a pandemic with an uncertain trajectory. I believe when we win this, it will put a stake in the heart of the Republican war on American health care. It will provide momentum and steel in the spine for Democrats to get more done on health care.”

“The ACA and Medicaid are key to helping ensure that disabled people and those with special needs are able to get the care they need at home,” said Elena Hung, Co-Chair of Health Care Voter and Co-Founder and Executive Director of Little Lobbyists. “Health care is literally a matter of life and death for families like mine.”

“Without the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans with preexisting conditions like me are uninsurable,” said Laura Packard, Health Care Voter Co-Chair and Executive Director of Get America Covered. “Without insurance, we can’t afford the care we need to stay alive and thrive. Our health care, like our basic humanity, never should have been up for a vote. We need to hold elected officials accountable if they vote to take away our care and replace them with health care champions.”