Texas Ruling on ACA Underlines Why Medicare-for-All Is the Best Way Forward
Dec. 17, 2018
Texas Ruling on ACA Underlines Why Medicare-for-All Is the Best Way Forward
Statement from Eagan Kemp, Health Care Policy Advocate, Public Citizen
Note: On Friday a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and therefore the rest of the law cannot stand, following congressional Republicans’ elimination of the individual mandate’s tax penalty in 2017. President Donald Trump has called the ruling “great news for America.”
The president’s words are not surprising given his administration’s attempts to sabotage the ACA to date. “Great” to President Donald Trump means a loss of health care for 20 million Americans, elimination of mandatory pre-existing conditions protections and the removal of children and young adults from their parents’ insurance.
This most recent threat to Americans’ access to health care comes when 70 percent of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans, favor implementing Medicare-for-All. If Trump truly is interested in creating a health care system that would end high out-of-pocket costs and guarantee great health care for all Americans, then the answer is to improve and expand Medicare to everyone in the U.S.
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