Now Is the Time to Make Our Voices Heard: With Health Care on the Line in the Supreme Court, Blumenthal Calls on Connecticut Residents to Share Stories
As Republicans rush through a Supreme Court nominee who will strike down the Affordable Care Act and restrict access to reproductive health care, Blumenthal is asking Connecticut residents to share what is at stake for them with this nomination
[WASHINGTON, DC] – Ahead of next week’s Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) issued a call for people across Connecticut to make their voices heard and to share the impact that Republican-led attacks on health care would have on their lives. President Trump has vowed to put in place a Supreme Court Justice who will vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and limit people’s reproductive rights. Senate Republicans are rushing the nomination in the midst of the election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Trump and Senate Republicans are doing the unconscionable: rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate health care in the middle of a pandemic less than a month before the election. As I fight this illegitimate process, I want to hear from the people of Connecticut about the impact losing health care coverage or reproductive health rights would have on their lives and share their stories. Now is the time to make our voices heard,” said Blumenthal.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on November 10 regarding the constitutionality of the ACA. If the court rules that the law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, it could strike down the ACA in its entirety, disrupting the health care system and ending important protections provided like insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions and Medicaid expansion. It is estimated that up to 133 million non-elderly Americans – and 1.5 million Connecticut residents – have pre-existing conditions, which include COVID-19, cancer, and heart disease. More than 20 million Americans are at risk of becoming uninsured if the ACA is struck down, including 12 million low-income adults who could lose Medicaid coverage.
Seventeen cases involving reproductive rights are also nearing Supreme Court consideration, increasing the likelihood that the next Supreme Court Justice will vote on abortion restrictions that could limit access to care or overturn Roe v. Wade.
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