WASHINGTON – As the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments today in the Texas v. United States, a partisan lawsuit to gut the entire Affordable Care Act, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Tuesday led a group of Senators on the U.S. Senate floor calling out the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress for supporting the lawsuit to gut the Affordable Care Act and jeopardize health care for millions of Americans. During his remarks, Murphy highlighted what’s at stake for the 522,000 people in Connecticut and 130 million Americans living with a pre-existing health condition if the lawsuit is successful.

Earlier today, Murphy joined a bicameral press conference on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to show the faces of Americans who would be hurt if the lawsuit succeeds.

“The case, if successful, would result in a humanitarian catastrophe in this country, because the plaintiffs in the case, backed by the Trump administration, are arguing that the court should throw out the entire Affordable Care Act with nothing to replace it,” said Murphy. “The choice today is between the Affordable Care Act, which insures over 20 million Americans, which guarantees that people with pre-existing conditions cannot be discriminated against, and nothing: no protections, no expansion of Medicaid, no subsidies for individuals to buy private insurance.”

“Right now with the support of Republicans in Congress, the Trump administration today is making the argument that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down with nothing at all to replace it,” Murphy added.

The full text of Murphy’s remarks is below:

“Mr. Murphy: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I'm going to be joined here on the floor over the next 45 minutes or so by a number of my colleagues to talk about an exceptional court case that is being heard today in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is a court case that the Trump administration, along with a number of Republican attorneys general, have brought to obliterate the Affordable Care Act, all of it overnight. The case, if successful, would result in a humanitarian catastrophe in this country. Why do I say that? Well, because the plaintiffs in the case, backed by the Trump administration, are arguing that the court should throw out the entire Affordable Care Act with nothing to replace it despite the fact that for almost a decade now I have listened to this president and my Republican colleagues in the Congress object to the Affordable Care Act on the premise that they will have something better to replace it with. In President Trump's words, a replacement that will insure more people at lower costs with all the protections that the Affordable Care Act has. That plan has not materialized yet because it doesn't exist. It has never existed. It will never exist. The choice today is between the Affordable Care Act, which insures over 20 million Americans, which guarantees that people with pre-existing conditions cannot be discriminated against, and nothing: no protections, no expansion of Medicaid, no subsidies for individuals to buy private insurance. And right now with the support of Republicans in Congress, the Trump administration today is making the argument that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down with nothing -- nothing at all to replace it. 

“This is my friend John from Middletown, Connecticut. I had breakfast with John last week. That is a picture of John in his younger years. John was 12 years old when he started to have flu-like symptoms but was diagnosed, coincidentally on the day of the tragedy in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, with a rare form of soft tissue cancer in the back of his throat. The treatment process for John was, in his words, horrendous, bringing him to as little as 70 pounds for a period of time, rendering him unable to speak, eat, or drink. He was out of school and in and out of the hospital for almost two years. Six years later he can only open his jaw a small fraction of the normal range of motion. He can only chew foods out of one side of his mouth, and he has very limited healing ability for any jaw injury. These issues will never go away for John and he has become an advocate for the Affordable Care Act because he knows that if the Trump administration's lawsuit is successful, his life as he knows it is over because once again insurance companies would deny him treatment. No insurance company would provide John with insurance knowing his history of cancer if they were allowed to make decisions for themselves who gets coverage and who doesn't. The only reason John gets coverage is because we said through the Affordable Care Act that we're not going to hold you responsible for your childhood cancer. We’re going to make sure you get insurance no matter what. 

“These are the stakes right now. These are the stakes for millions of Americans like John whose lives will be upended if this heartless, thoughtless, cruel lawsuit proceeds. We should be talking about how to make the health care system better, we should talk about ways to lower costs, we shouldn't be talking about going backwards with no safety net. What if the lawsuit is successful? I haven't heard a single Republican in the Senate talk about what they would do. I haven't heard the President talk about what his plan is if this lawsuit is successful. What happens to John? What are you going to do to make sure he gets the treatment that he needs? The answer is you don't know. The answer is you are jumping without a net and you are playing with the lives of millions of Americans. 

“John is a remarkable young man also because his eyes were opened when he was in that hospital. I actually want to read you his words. He said this to me a couple of weeks ago and I asked him to write it down because it's really remarkable the capacity of young people to see beyond their own suffering. He said, ‘I wanted to take the opportunity to tell one more story about an experience I had while I was in the hospital during my cancer treatment. This is a story about a young boy who received cancer treatment the same time as me. During my daily physical therapy walks around the childhood cancer floor, I started to notice a pattern, there was one room directly across from the nurse's station with the same patient inside. A small boy no older than 3 years old. I can remember asking my parents and nurses, why are that baby's parents not with him? I felt so angry that such a tiny child was left alone and forgotten in a hospital room while going through cancer treatment. I remember seeing the tiny chemotherapy port embedded in his head through the glass door. Why would they abandon him like that? I asked the nurse walking with me that day. She explained to me that he had not been abandoned at all. He was not forgotten. He was not neglected. She explained to me that he was left alone due to pure necessity and desperation.’

“This is John talking, he says, ‘I learned that both of his parents were working day and night to be able to afford his cancer treatment. Nobody deserves to go through this, what I went through,’ says John, ‘alone, especially not a 3-year-old infant. I share my story so that his story will not continue to take place in America. I shared my story so that patients fighting for their life will no longer be taken advantage of by hospitals and insurance companies.’

“What a miracle that this young man, going through his own cancer treatments, would think of a 3-year-old child that has no parents there with him because his parents are working multiple jobs in order to afford the cancer treatments for their son. Before the Affordable Care Act went into effect, 750,000 people in this country went into bankruptcy because of medical costs. That doesn't happen any longer. It doesn't mean our health care system is perfect. It needs more improvement, but why would we want to go back to the day in which a family lost everything simply because their 3-year-old son got cancer? Why would we take this chance with these people's lives? I once again come to the floor to beg my colleagues to stand with us – to stand with us and oppose this lawsuit, this careless, thoughtless lawsuit, and at the very least if you support it, then come to the floor with a real plan for how you're going to take care of John and the millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act for coverage. I yield the floor.”

 

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