Senate Democrats want to intervene in a lawsuit that would end Obamacare’s protections for pre-existing conditions after the Trump administration declined to defend the healthcare law.
A group of Democratic senators introduced a resolution on Thursday that would have the Senate intervene in a lawsuit brought by Texas and 19 other states against Obamacare. The lawsuit would gut the law’s protections for pre-existing conditions.
“I would hope that if you care about pre-ex conditions you should sign on to this resolution,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., at a press conference Thursday.
The lawsuit charges that pre-existing condition protections should go away since Obamacare’s individual mandate will be repealed in 2019. The Supreme Court ruled back in 2012 that the individual mandate was a tax, and since that tax is going away, then the pre-existing condition protections cannot stand on their own.
But Democrats said that Republicans should get on board with the resolution to intervene.
“This is something that should be kept intact,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who alongside Casey is up for re-election this fall.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., another Democrat up for re-election this fall, said that gutting protections would not just impact people who get coverage on Obamacare’s marketplaces on the individual market, but also employer-sponsored plans.
“This is a test of the Republican Party whether or not they are going to do the right thing on protecting people with pre-existing conditions,” said Casey.
