WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Monday launched a campaign inviting people across Connecticut to share their health care stories and describe how they would be impacted if the Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act after ten years succeeds. Constituents are invited to visit www.murphy.senate.gov/aca-stories to share their experiences. Murphy launched this story share campaign as a way to highlight what’s at stake if Republicans confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the United States Supreme Court, and the Affordable Care Act is struck down in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s clear President Trump and Senate Republicans are trying to confirm Judge Barrett in record time because there is a case pending before the Supreme Court that will finally allow them to throw away the Affordable Care Act. Republicans couldn’t repeal the law through Congress, so now they’re weaponizing the Supreme Court to do it right after the presidential election. This would be a humanitarian catastrophe, and it’s important I hear from people across my state and this country – and share their stories with my colleagues in the Senate – how their lives could be negatively impacted if they lost their health insurance overnight, and in the middle of a pandemic,” said Murphy.

The Census Bureau recently estimated that 2.3 million more people became uninsured between 2016 and 2019, which is due to the Trump administration’s sabotage efforts. 18 Republican Attorneys General—led by Texas—sued to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act, arguing that protections for those with pre-existing conditions are unconstitutional. The Trump administration took the unprecedented step to side with the partisan lawsuit, threatening health insurance coverage for over 20 million people nationwide and 260,000 Connecticut residents. More than 130 million Americans have a pre-existing condition, including more than 520,000 in Connecticut, and this lawsuit jeopardizes the health insurance they depend on. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments of the California v. Texas lawsuit on November 10, 2020.

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