Tennessee Democratic Party Issues Statement on Trump Administration Lawsuit to Abolish Obamacare

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, July 9 -- The Tennessee Democratic Party issued the following statement by Chair Mary Mancini:

Today, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments after a Texas judge sided with Tennessee and other Republican-led states who signed on to a Trump administration lawsuit to abolish Obamacare.

"It's inconceivable that "nice guy" Governor Bill Lee would allow Tennessee to support a lawsuit that would further decimate health care in the state, especially since Republicans have no plan of their own to pick up the pieces of the devastated lives that will be left in the wake of an abolished Affordable Care Act.

"Tennessee Republicans have refused to expand Medicaid resulting in 13 rural hospital closures and leaving hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans without access to affordable healthcare.

"If the lawsuit to abolish the entire Affordable Care Act that Governor Lee and Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery have signed on to is successful, more rural hospitals will close and thousands of Tennesseans, including children and those with pre-existing conditions, will once again be without health care."

Here's what will happen if Trump and Gov. Bill Lee's lawsuit is successful:

* GONE: Protections for as many as 133 million Americans and 2 million Tennesseans with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate will increase by 65 percent.

* GONE: Healthcare for 20 million Americans and 220,000 Tennesseans covered under the ACA.

* GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers 17 million people across 37 states.

* GONE: More than 5 million seniors each year will have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare 'donut hole' will be reopened.

* GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.

* 2 million adult children will no longer be able to stay on their parents' insurance.

* Already struggling hospitals will be hit even harder as their costs increase.