Survivors of COVID now have a preexisting condition.
Two years ago, Democrats successfully rode the healthcare issue to victory in the elections for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Specifically, the Democrats ran on protecting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA) against Republican efforts to repeal it. This year, at the confirmation hearing on Judge Amy Coney Barrett‘s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Democrats are pointing out once again that the Republicans seek to repeal the ACA and take away our healthcare, and that a 6-3 Republican majority Supreme Court, with the addition of Barrett, could easily do so.
Republicans such as Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell keep telling us in response that, no matter what, they would still “protect preexisting conditions,” the coverage of which is a major element of the ACA. But one look at the Republicans’ nightmare healthcare scenario makes it clear that the GOP will offer no such protection.
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Leave a comment! Tags: ACA, Affordable Care Act, Amy Coney Barrett, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Democrats, Donald Trump, healthcare, insurance, Mitch McConnell, Obamacare, preexisting conditions, Republicans, Supreme Court
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley speaks at Maryland Climate Change Summit, 2013
The Obama Administration’s latest move to battle climate change — new Environmental Protection Agency rules designed to cut power plant emissions by 30 percent — will likely set off a Republican response not unlike their response to the Affordable Care Act. We can expect lies, delays and lawsuits from Republicans and their Big Coal corporate backers to block the EPA rules. However, while many Republicans have the luxury of being climate change deniers to score political points, insurance companies and state and local officials do not have this luxury. Even insurance companies run by Republicans, and Republican state and local officials, will have to deal with the actual effects of climate change, such as an increase in claims by homeowners and business owners for damage related to rising sea levels, storm surges and fires, increased health care claims, and state and local budgets depleted by disaster response and rebuilding. That’s why it will be important to watch what these insurance company executives and public officials do.
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