Tennessee families, advocates fear outcome of state attorney general’s challenge to Affordable Care Act
Critics warn that 2.7 million Tennesseans with preexisting medical conditions would lose protection against discrimination by insurers if the legal action filed by officials in 20 states, including 18 Republican state attorneys general, succeeds in overturning the ACA, widely known as Obamacare.
A ruling declaring the law unconstitutional also would threaten the ACA's ban on lifetime dollar caps on payouts by insurers for cancer and chronic illnesses, they said.
Oral arguments in the lawsuit began Wednesday morning before a federal judge in
She said children with "special needs are especially vulnerable. I can't comprehend why our attorney general wants to take away health care from people who need it."
Earlier this year, Slatery issued a news release when he entered the lawsuit, arguing that when the
He said while
Advocates held a news conference at
He questioned why the majority of states aren't participating in the lawsuit and are "actually arguing the other side."
She said the preexisting needs provision "protects our family from financial ruin and ensures our son's access to appropriate health care without living in fear of not being covered because of something he could not control, his premature birth.
"Twentieth Century medicine saved our son's life," she said. "I just can't believe that 21st Century inhumane thinking and partisanship could curtail it. Health care is a human right. Period."
Slatery's office had no immediate response to the criticisms.
As the federal court considers the ACA's constitutionality, a new tracking poll by the
Seventy-five percent of those surveyed say it is "very important" to retain ACA provisions that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on a person's medical history, while 72 percent don't want the companies to charge sick people more. The foundation said that includes majorities of
Back in June,
He called the
Actually, Alexander said,
WPLN,
Haslam also told WPLN that "to me, there have always been issues around the way the Affordable Care Act was passed and the way [
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