Tillis and Burr Must Speak Out Against Trump’s Latest Attempt to Wipe Out ACA

Tillis and Burr Must Speak Out Against Trump’s Latest Attempt to Wipe Out ACA

Trump Administration Brief Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Entirety of ACA, Threatening Health Coverage for 600,000 North Carolinians

Raleigh, N.C. – Late last night, the Trump administration filed a brief calling on the Supreme Court to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA). Among other arguments, the administration’s brief specifically calls on the Court to gut provisions of the law protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage. If successful, health care costs would spike and more than 600,000 North Carolinians could lose coverage.   

Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr have so far failed to speak out against this dangerous lawsuit. Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson released the following statement in response:

“Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who depend on the ACA do not have the luxury of ignoring this fight, and neither should Senator Tillis or Senator Burr. If the Trump administration is successful in gutting the Affordable Care Act, it would be nothing short of devastating for North Carolinians who, in the middle of a global pandemic, are struggling to afford their premiums and prescription drugs or who have pre-existing conditions. Tillis and Burr must speak out against this outrageous lawsuit and reverse course and start to finally focus on protecting access to care and lowering costs.”

Background:

• If the ACA is struck down, an estimated 607,000 North Carolinians would lose coverage, an estimate that has increased by 100,000 since the start of the pandemic

• More than 1.7 million non-elderly North Carolinians, 28 percent of the state, have a pre-existing condition that would allow insurance companies to deny them coverage if the ACA is struck down

• Senators Tillis and Burr have each voted at least seven times to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety

• Senators Tillis and Burr voted for the 2017 GOP tax legislation that amended the ACA and paved the way for this most recent lawsuit

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