A brief filed Thursday by the Trump administration would cost an estimated 20 million Americans their insurance coverage and nullify protections for preexisting conditions as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
The administration’s insistence at wiping out the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, carries major implications for the presidential election in November and comes as the U.S. has recorded more than 124,000 coronavirus-related deaths, with roughly 2.5 million confirmed cases.
Trump campaigned in 2016 on repealing the Affordable Care Act — former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law — but his efforts fell just short in Congress in 2017.
With health care being a top issue for voters in surveys as well as for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco and other Justice Department officials sided in the brief, which includes a section strongly arguing that the Affordable Care Act’s pre-existing condition rules must be overturned as well.
The brief, which will not be acted on before Election Day, also contradicts Trump’s insistence that he will protect people with preexisting conditions under a new plan.