Washington, D.C. — Today, President Donald Trump is announcing an executive order on protections for preexisting conditions while suing to take away those protections in federal court. In response, Maura Calsyn, managing director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, released the following statement:
The president’s announcement is straight out of the Twilight Zone. For years, he has promised to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the law that guarantees that 135 million people with preexisting conditions cannot be denied coverage or charged more based on their health history. In June, in the middle of a pandemic that has killed 200,000 Americans, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take away these protections and coverage for more than 20 million Americans. And his rush to install another rubber stamp for his agenda on the Supreme Court puts the law in even more grave danger—all to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.
Desperate to conceal his crusade against the American people’s health care after watching Republicans suffer at the ballot box in 2018, the president is engaged in a last-ditch effort before the election to pull wool over the American people’s eyes and cast himself as a health care champion. Nothing could be further from the truth.
An executive order is no substitute for the ACA’s protections, which are especially critical for people of color, women, and people with disabilities. As experts have noted, Republican plans to cover people with preexisting conditions fall well short of current law and could cause people with health needs to be denied coverage or charged more for their health care.
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For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected] or 202-741-6292.