Blumenthal to Barrett: Protection for People Who Suffer From Pre-existing Conditions Is in Fact on the Line

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) shared stories from people across Connecticut who depend on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its protections, and stressed to Judge Barrett that their future is on the line in the ACA case set to be heard by the Supreme Court.

“I raise these stories, in part, because as you know, I'm sure, protection for people who suffer from pre-existing conditions is in fact on the line in this case that will come to the Supreme Court only a week after the election,” said Blumenthal.

Earlier in the hearing, Barrett incorrectly asserted that the case the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear just days after the election “doesn’t present the issue” of protections for preexisting condition. In fact, the Trump administration filed a brief to the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, stating in the brief, “The entire A.C.A. thus must fall with the individual mandate.”

Blumenthal shared with Judge Barrett a letter from the parents of Conner Curran, a ten-year-old resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, living with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, a fatal illness requiring tens of thousands of dollars in medical treatment every year. Conner’s disease is also a pre-existing condition, and without the protections of the Affordable Care Act, he could lose access to critical care. In their letter, the Curran family asked Judge Barrett to protect their son.

Blumenthal also highlighted the stories of Christine Miller from Bloomfield, Connecticut, who was diagnosed with a thyroid condition that was discovered because after the ACA was signed into law, she was able to get health coverage and go to the doctor, and Julia Lanzano from Cheshire, who put off going to the doctor for more than a year despite persistent headaches because she lacked health insurance. When Julia went to the doctor, still without health insurance, she learned she had a brain tumor. She was eligible for coverage under Connecticut’s Medicaid expansion program, created by the ACA, but worries about what will happen to her and other survivors if Medicaid is no longer there.

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