Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf, Sen. Casey Rally for Affordable Care Act at ‘Protect Our Care’ Event

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, Aug. 28 -- Gov. Tom Wolf, D-Pennsylvania, issued the following news release:

Governor Tom Wolf and U.S. Senator Bob Casey were joined by health care advocacy group Protect Our Care in rallying against the Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to reiterate Pennsylvania's commitment to sustaining quality health care for residents at reasonable costs. Cabinet secretaries representing the departments of Health, Human Services, Drug and Alcohol Programs, and Insurance were also in attendance.

"One of my first acts as governor was authorizing the expansion of Medicaid under a provision of the Affordable Care Act that gave an additional 720,000 Pennsylvanians access to health care," Gov. Wolf said. "Right now, that coverage is in danger by people who have no plan to replace it, much less improve it."

The Protect Our Care's Health Care Emergency Bus Tour had traveled more than 4,000 miles before the stop in Harrisburg. The goal of the tour is to call attention to the health care emergency created by the lawsuit to overturn the ACA, and to promote the actions of Democrats who are taking steps to lower costs and improve Americans' health care.

"President Trump and the Republicans tried to rip away health care from millions of Americans," Sen. Casey said. "They tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and decimate the Medicaid program and now they are trying to do it through the courts. We need to be tenacious and vigilant and must keep fighting against these obscene attempts because it is literally a life or death issue."

In addition to Gov. Wolf and Sen. Casey, rally speakers included Cindy and Matthew Jennings, mother and son from Lititz, who benefited significantly from Medicaid expansion; and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.

The lawsuit to overturn the health care law would take coverage away from 20 million Americans, strip protections from 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, and raise costs across the board.

"Before the Affordable Care Act, Americans constantly felt like they were about to have the rug pulled out from under them by an insurance company," Gov. Wolf said. "We can't go back to that. We're already working here in Pennsylvania toward reducing the cost of individual plans by passing legislation that will bring our health care marketplace in-house. We must continue moving forward toward an improved health care system that works for everyone and that means continuing to work with the Affordable Care Act."