May 6, 2020
Carson City, NV– Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford
filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
against efforts by the Trump Administration and the State of Texas to repeal
the entire ACA, putting the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans at
risk. The Court agreed to review a recent Fifth Circuit decision that held the
ACA's individual mandate unconstitutional and called into question whether the
remaining provisions of the law could still stand. The decision would
jeopardize Medicaid expansion, critical public health programs that help fight
COVID-19, and subsidies that help working families’ access care, among
countless others. AG Ford is joined by 20 states in this action.
"Hundreds of thousands of Nevada families are
depending on the Affordable Care Act for access to quality and affordable
healthcare, especially during this pandemic," said AG Ford. “1,258,000
Nevadans have a pre-existing condition, including 163,100 Nevada children,
620,000 Nevada women, and 285,900 Nevadans. My office will continue defending
Nevadans’ right to healthcare.”
The
lawsuit, initially filed by a Texas-led coalition and later supported by the
Trump Administration, argued that Congress rendered the ACA’s individual
mandate unconstitutional when it reduced the penalty for forgoing coverage to
$0. They further argued that the rest of the ACA should be held invalid as a
result of that change. The coalition of attorneys general defended the ACA in
its entirety, supported by a bipartisan group of amici including scholars,
economists, public health experts, hospital and provider associations, patient
groups, counties, cities, and more. While the Fifth Circuit held that the
individual mandate is unconstitutional, it sidestepped on the validity of the
ACA’s remaining provisions.
In their brief, the attorneys general make clear that patients,
doctors, hospitals, employers, workers, states, pharmaceutical companies
and more will be negatively impacted if the ACA should fall. The brief also
highlights important advancements in healthcare access made
under the ACA. In Nevada, the healthcare of hundreds of thousands of Nevadans
are at risk:
- 211,700 Nevadans are enrolled through
Medicaid expansion;
- 636,208 Nevadans with traditional
Medicaid coverage, including seniors, people with disabilities, and children, are
at risk; and
- 303,343 Nevada children’s care is at
risk.
If the Affordable Care Act is
repealed:
- 282,000 Nevadans could lose coverage.
According to the Urban Institute, 282,000 Nevadans would lose coverage by
repealing the Affordable Care Act, leading to a 75 percent increase in the
uninsured rate;
- 19,000 Nevada young adults with
their parents’ coverage could lose care. Because of the
Affordable Care Act, millions of young adults are able to stay on their
parents’ care until age 26;
- 74,000 Nevada children could lose
their coverage. Almost three million children
nationwide gained coverage thanks to the ACA. If the law is overturned, many of
these children will lose their insurance;
- 95,900 Nevada Latinos could lose
coverage. The percentage of people gaining health insurance under
the ACA was higher for Latinos than for any other racial or ethnic group in the
country. According to a study from Families USA, 5.4 million Latinos nationwide
would lose coverage if the lawsuit succeeds in overturning the ACA; and
- Nevadans would lose important
federal health care funding. An estimated reduction of $1.2
billion in the first year. The Urban Institute estimates that a full repeal of
the ACA would reduce federal spending on Nevadans’ Medicaid/CHIP care and
Marketplace subsidies by $1.2 billion.
In addition to Nevada, other states participating in this brief
include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota (by and through its
Department of Commerce), Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,
Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the Governor of Kentucky.
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