Democrats are using a federal judge’s ruling on Obamacare’s preventative coverage, just two months before the midterm elections, as an opportunity to campaign to keep health care up.
Wednesday’s ruling by Texas Judge Reed O’Connor escalated a new battle over Obamacare, prompting millions of Americans to seek services for colorectal and other cancers, depression, high blood pressure and more. may jeopardize access to preventive care, including screening for
Efforts to defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have proven effective for Democrats in the past. Republicans successfully campaigned for control of the House in 2018, capitalizing on Republican attempts to repeal the law in 2017. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court’s June ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade gave Democrats another health issue to revitalize their base.
“With Republicans’ complete disregard for our health, safety and freedom, it is only a matter of time before another drug, treatment, vaccine or medical service becomes the next target of their extremism.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said in a statement shortly after the ruling.
Pelosi also said Democrats were trying to tie the ruling directly to the Republican “extreme MAGA” agenda and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“This extreme MAGA ruling comes just months after the Republican-dominated Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, shattering precedent and privacy. has planned a free and dangerous campaign to punish our most personal decisions, such as birth control.
Frederick Isasi, executive director of the liberal group Families USA, said the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling and O’Connor’s ruling were “very linear.”
“I think the big signal here is another example…a small number of people with very ideological or hardcore religious views are now changing laws to support people’s liberties and health services. We are limiting the ability to access,” said Isasi. Said.
While issues such as inflation, gas prices, and immigration dominate Republican campaign rhetoric, Democrats have bashed Republicans on health issues such as abortion and prescription drug costs. O’Connor’s determination injects more fuel into the fight.
“As a 35-year ovarian cancer survivor, I am outraged that this judge tried to bring us back to the days before the ACA. Individuals suffered pain and even death because they weren’t guaranteed without it,” said Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Connecticut).
The ruling “shows that conservatives on the bench are marching to overturn the many hard-won freedoms of the American people,” DeLauro said.
O’Connor has a history of passing judgments against Obamacare and other Democratic policies. In 2018, O’Connor supported a coalition of Republican state attorneys general to invalidate the entire health law as unconstitutional, a decision that was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court in 2020.
The Biden administration said it was considering the ruling and plans to appeal. Additional briefings from both sides were scheduled for Friday, but O’Connor granted an extension until Sept. 16.
Under Obamacare, any service or medicine that receives an “A” or “B” level recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a panel of volunteer experts, will automatically be added to the list of free services covered by the insurer. must be added explicitly.
There are over 100 services on the list, and experts say the requirement has led to better health outcomes.
However, O’Connor ruled that the service recommended by USPSTF members was invalid because it was “unconstitutionally appointed.”
The ruling also specifically targeted an HIV treatment known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). O’Connor said Obamacare’s requirement to fully cover PrEP violates the religious liberty of the company owned by prominent Republican donor and former Obamacare contributor Stephen Hotz. Stated.
Hotze argued that being compelled for PrEP “encourages and facilitates homosexual acts, intravenous drug use, and extramarital sexual activity between men and women.”
Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and Legal Initiative at Georgetown University Law School, said O’Connor did not specify how far-reaching the decision would be. It can apply only to plaintiffs, or it can void the entire ACA provision.
Keith said it was “disappointing” to see another legal challenge against the ACA.
“We know that access to all of these very important evidence-based prevention services is at risk,” Keith said. “The loss of these provisions would return us to the days before the Affordable Care Act, when individual employers and insurers could choose the preventative services they wanted to cover and whether they could claim cost sharing. I guess.”
Health care has never been a topic of Republican winning campaigns in recent cycles.Failure to repeal the Health Act in 2017 has kept Republicans largely silent on the topic of Obamacare.
Vulnerable Republican candidates have also recently softened their language on abortion and even tried to remove references to past comments on the issue from the campaign website.
Isasi said if Republicans oppose O’Connor’s decision, they need to speak up.
“We know this judge is very much in line with Republican politics. He’s very ideological, and that’s the duty of conservative members.” [Republican Party] To speak up and say it’s gone too far,” Isasi said.
