WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Laura Hatcher of Little Lobbyists, and Brad Woodhouse of Protect Our Care, held a press call on Tuesday to discuss the dire stakes of the Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Last week, the House of Representatives and state attorneys general filed briefs in support of the law. Murphy, along with Hatcher and Woodhouse, highlighted the real-life impact of overturning the law and what ripping health care from 20 million Americans would look like for communities who rely on the Affordable Care Act and its protections, especially during the coronavirus crisis.

On the dual-crisis of Americans losing their jobs and health care due to COVID-19 while Republicans are trying to gut the Affordable Care Act, Murphy said: “…[W}e generally use the number 20 million when we talk about the stakes of repealing the Affordable Care Act. And that has been true because that's about the number of Americans that got insurance through the Affordable Care Act. And if Texas v. United States proves successful at the Supreme Court, that's the number of Americans who overnight would lose their insurance. But things are changing. Because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, we are approaching a 20 percent unemployment rate, meaning more and more Americans are finding themselves reliant on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in order to get themselves and their family insurance.”

On Senate Republicans’ thinking on the Texas v. ACA lawsuit, Murphy said: “Over the weekend, my colleague Lamar Alexander went on national TV and said that he was disappointed to the president was continuing to support Texas v. United States lawsuit through the court system. Now this is the first time we've heard something like that from Chairman Alexander and a lot of us wish he had said that a year or two ago.” 

Murphy continued: “But I think Senator Alexander's comments represents a nervousness, a panic amongst Republicans who know that the repeal of the Affordable Care Act was unpopular to begin with, but it is now potentially disastrous for them to support repealing the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic. I think that Senator Alexander's comments will be the tip of the spear. I think that you'll be hearing many other Republicans trying to distance themselves from this lawsuit, because they know that there will be electoral hell to pay if they support the removal of insurance from 30 million Americans in the middle of a public health epidemic that has already killed 80,000 of us.”

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