Missouri – More than ten years after initially being signed into law, the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) has once again been upheld and solidified as the law of the land. This is great news for the millions of Missourians and Americans who rely on the significant achievements of the Affordable Care Act. For more than ten years the Affordable Care Act has saved thousands of lives, protected hundreds of millions of people with pre-existing conditions from discrimination and higher costs, and reined in health insurance companies’ control to deny and delay our care.
This is yet another reminder that certain politicians, namely former President Trump, Senator Josh Hawley, and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt efforts to undermine and repeal the ACA by pushing this frivolous lawsuit and dangerous attacks on our lives – are mean-spirited and unfounded.
“Over the past year in particular, the ACA has been a lifeline for people who lost their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensured that more than eight million COVID-19 survivors will not be denied health care due to pre-existing conditions,” said Caitlyn Adams, Executive Director for Missouri Jobs with Justice. “Politicians who have led the charge to repeal the ACA should focus on supporting real healthcare solutions for the people they serve.”
“My cancer is a pre-existing condition. Thanks only to the ACA, insurers cannot deny coverage due to a pre-existing condition like my past cancer,” said Fran Farrah, a cancer survivor from Kansas City and one of 2,478,400 Missourians with a pre-existing condition. “Insurance companies can’t punish me for having been sick. They cannot decide that I am no longer worthy of affordable medical care.”
The ACA’s ban on lifetime caps is keeping many Americans from bankruptcy. As the result of a congenital heart defect and a car accident, Lindsey Simmons, a single mother of two in Kansas City, has medical costs of over $2 million – well above the typical pre-ACA lifetime limits on health insurance coverage.
“Without the ban on lifetime limits, I don’t know what I’d do,” said Lindsey. “As a parent, even as a person, I should not have to worry if the care that will save my life will put my family into bankruptcy or lose our home. We should be focusing on how to take care of all Missourians and all workers – not helping corporations like big pharma or the insurance industry line their pockets while millions suffer.”
