HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC) – Attorney General William Tong and Co-Chairmen of the Connecticut Insurance Committee, State Senator Matt Lesser and State Representative Sean Scanlon, hosted a press conference at the Legislative Office Building to denounce the latest legal attempt to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
Joining other health care officials, the lawmakers described the impact, especially on Connecticut residents, if the ACA is reversed.
“240,000 Connecticut residents would be kicked off of Medicad, thanks to the Medicad expansion,” said Representative Scanlon. “And 111,000 people that now have coverage as of two weeks ago from the Affordable Care Act would lose that coverage.”
Scanlon added, “16,000 Connecticut residents that are under the age of 26 will be kicked off of their parents’ insurance. And about 500,000 people in this state who have preexisting conditions – adults – would lose the ability to buy health insurance, as they now have the ability to do so without being considered of the fact that they have a preexisting condition.”
The latest legal action comes in the form of a lawsuit filed in Texas arguing the Affordable Care Act is invalid and seeks to overturn the legislation in its entirety. However, Attorney General William Tong argues that the case has no standing to move forward.
“You’ve got to establish standing when you walk into federal court and show that you’ve been harmed,” said Tong. “Nobody is being harmed by the Affordable Care Act right now.”
He continued, “Their argument is that because Congress eliminated the individual mandate and reduced the tax down to zero dollars, that that somehow invalidates the entire law. But if it’s a zero-dollar tax, nobody has to pay any money – nobody is suffering any loss. “
Tong added the entire argument of the lawsuit is baseless – noting the severe impact on Americans, especially those with preexisting conditions.
State Senator Matt Lesser also spoke on the local economic impact of the law’s reversal.
“As many as 36,000 jobs could be lost right here in Connecticut,” said Lesser. “It would also blow a hole in our state budget – according to the OFA it would cut 1.4 billion dollars for Medicad funding in Connecticut immediately and would eliminate 415 million dollars in subsidies to health insurance purchased through the private access health exchange.”
From 2011 to 2017, Connecticut received approximately $6 billion in federal funds relating to Obamacare and more than 260,000 people have received Medicaid coverage as a result of the program’s expansion.
Ultimately, the Connecticut lawmakers stated the issue was more about human rights than politics. They also reiterated their commitment to protecting the health care of Connecticut residents while guaranteeing a legal fight against the latest lawsuit.
“It’s an attack on the American people and we are not going to take it,” said Tong. “We are going to fight tooth and nail - I’m in court in Texas with 20 other states and we’re going to do everything we can to protect the people of this state and their health care coverage.”