The Democratic Attorneys General Association announced Monday it will spend millions on ads attacking their Republican counterparts and the 2018 lawsuit against Obamacare.
The Democratic campaign will include ads in Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Utah, and West Virginia newspapers, as well as digital ads. The pricey ad blitz takes aim at Republican attorneys general who are party to a contentious lawsuit against Obamacare’s individual mandate.
“Your attorney general Curtis Hill is in court this week wasting your tax dollars to take away health care from 497,000 Hoosiers like you,” a sample ad released by the association says. “Tell Curtis Hill [to stop] attacking health care!”
In February 2018, 20 Republican state attorneys general filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate penalty. Only 17 attorneys general and one GOP governor are still named in the suit.
The case, Texas v. United States, came after Congress eliminated the individual mandate through a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017. The Republican plaintiffs argue Obamacare is dependent on the individual mandate and, as a result, the law can no longer be classified as a tax and should be struck down entirely.
Seventeen Democratic attorneys general intervened to defend the ACA in May 2018. More than 20 states and the District of Columbia are now defending the law.
A federal judge ruled for the plaintiffs in December, invalidating the entire Affordable Care Act after concluding that the individual mandate was “essential” to the law. The case was appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday.
“President Trump may call the GOP ‘the party of healthcare,’ but the truth is these Republican AGs are in court this week trying to sabotage healthcare coverage for millions of Americans,” Farah Melendez, political director at the Democratic Attorneys General Association said. “These healthcare hypocrites are attacking the critical care people in their states rely on to go to the doctor, afford prescription medication, and take care of sick kids and family members.”
The Democratic Attorneys General Association says that 20 million people, including 133 million with preexisiting conditions, would lose healthcare coverage if this “GOP sabotage” is successful.
