Ohio Democratic Party: Ohioans Highlight What’s at Stake in Affordable Care Act Lawsuit

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 10 -- The Ohio Democratic Party issued the following news:

As oral arguments began yesterday in Texas v. United States -- the lawsuit to throw out the entire Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional -- Ohio Democrats highlighted the potentially devastating impact if the law is overturned.

The Trump administration is seeking to overturn the health care law, which would result in:

Nearly five million Ohioans with pre-existing conditions losing protections;

More than half a million Ohioans who are covered under the Medicaid expansion losing their health coverage;

As many as one-fourth of Ohio's hospitals at risk for closure.

In Steubenville

WTOV: Chairman of Democratic Party pays visit to Steubenville to discuss ACA

"This has a major health care impact in the state," Pepper said. "It also would have a major jobs impact, so we're here basically to point that out amid a lot of other things that are talked about in politics, people most of all still care about their own health care, their family's health care, and today's court argument is a big deal when it comes to people's health care."

WTRF: Ohio Democrats traveled over the state to share impact of Affordable Care Act

"One of the things that is important to point out is this is not just about families and their health care, it's about jobs. This is one county, like many where the single greatest source of jobs in Jefferson County are health care."

Steubenville Herald-Star: Pepper: Leave health law alone

"It would be devastating to Ohio, to Ohioans' health care, to jobs in Ohio," Pepper said. "Almost 5 million people in Ohio with pre-existing conditions would no longer be covered. About a half-million Ohioans covered by the Medicaid expansion would lose their coverage and the Ohio Hospital Association thinks one in four hospitals would close because they rely so much on ACA."

Repealing all of the ACA could leave 1.9 million Ohioans and more than 10 million people nationwide without health insurance because they have pre-existing conditions, and also would impact the nation's elderly population, Yost had said.

But Pepper pointed out more than health care coverage is at stake: One in seven Ohioans works in the health care industry, he said. Locally, he said the percentage is even higher -- 23.3 percent.

"In all the chaos of Washington, the tweets and the British Ambassador's cables, the truth is the issue that matters most to everyday people is health care," Pepper said, a reference to reports the British ambassador had used words like inept, insecure and incompetent to describe Trump in diplomatic cables leaked to the press.

Pepper said a Trump win would invalidate the bipartisan agreements in Ohio achieved by the Kasich administration.

"If Trump wins, that tears it all up. It would really end all of that progress," he said.

In Zanesville

WHIZ: Ohio Democratic Party in Zanesville Discussing Affordable Care Act

An appeals court in New Orleans heard arguments regarding the health care law. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman, David Pepper, along with running candidate for City Council at Large, Albert Zakany spoke at Genesis Hospital about the importance of the Affordable Care Act, why it should stay within the country, and if it is removed, how it would affect our own community.

"That would mean five million Ohioans with preexisting conditions, five million would lose their coverage. It means that about half a million Ohioans who have benefited from the Medicaid expansion which was bipartisan, that coverage would be gone. It puts at risk, 1 in 4 rural Ohio hospitals around the state," said Pepper.

Pepper's mission is to inform Ohioans on the law and what they can do. He recommends citizens contact their members of Congress and express their views on the law.

"We're here simply to make sure people realize this argument is hundreds of miles away, but it has a direct impact on Zanesville, the health of folks in Zanesville, jobs in Zanesville, and all over Ohio," he said.

The Ohio Democratic Party was in Springfield, Ohio Monday, and traveled to Steubenville Tuesday to discuss the issue as well.

In Columbus

WCMH: Affordable Care Act debate

See video below

(https://youtu.be/rzGqhsDsQ4o)

https://youtu.be/eI1kG2jzJh0

https://youtu.be/5JRx-ubrdiE

https://youtu.be/pVlNlMoQleE

Toledo Blade: Toledoans rally in support of Affordable Care Act

"For the Republican Party to be trying to take the rug out of the Affordable Care Act, which is a lifeline to millions of people, is just so morally wrong. Forget the politics. Put that aside for a second. We have to have insurance that covers all of the American people for their healthcare," U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said.

Miss Kaptur, who voted for the Affordable Care Act, stressed the hard-fought battle occurring over the past century to try to provide coverage for the American people and condemned a moving backwards on healthcare access.

She said that even today, 75 percent of the bankruptcies in Toledo and occur because people can't pay their health bills.

"They are bankrupted by their illness," she said.

State Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) also took to the podium on Tuesday to speak in favor of protecting the Affordable Care Act. She said that though Texas, where the original court case took place, "seems like it's so far away," the elimination of the Act would be "devastating to us in Ohio."

Ms. Hicks-Hudson said that it is "a shame" that Lucas County has one of the highest rates in Ohio of maternal mortality among minority mothers and the highest rates of minority infant mortality.

"If we lose this ability for mothers and children to use this Affordable Care Act, we are creating more of a death sentence," she said, citing that one half of the births in Ohio are covered by Medicaid.