On November 10th, 2020, the United States Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on the Affordable Care Act. Again. This particular lawsuit was filed in Texas district court in February of 2018. The argument is that the Supreme Court's 2012 decision -- National Federation of Independent Business versus Sebelius -- said that the ACA individual coverage requirement was a tax. In 2017 Congress took away the tax penalty. Therefore, the argument is that without the tax penalty, the coverage requirement is unconstitutional. This ignores the fact that Congress left the ACA alone at that time.
The current administration has never defended the ACA, so it's no surprise that they are fighting it all the way to the top.
In June of 2018 the Justice Department asked the court to strike down two critical protections in the law. Prohibitions on insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and charging people higher premiums because of their health status.
Now they just want to strike down the whole thing, but there is theater going on as the President signed an executive order to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions. If that's the case, why are you fighting against it in court?
If the ACA is struck down, I will not have insurance anymore. And if I do, it's going to be prohibitively expensive and it's only because my cancer drugs were paid for by a clinical trial.
Do you remember catastrophic caps? I sure do! My mom hit hers and suddenly there was a $20,000 bill due. The ACA made that illegal.
If the ACA is struck down, we will again go back to women paying higher premiums than men. Because being a woman is a pre-existing condition. People who are sick will have higher premiums. We already have people having to decide whether to pay for their prescriptions or to pay for their rent. Things would get worse.
Health care is a human right. If you don't believe that, please ask yourself why. And then try to explain it to me. I really want to know what possible rationale there is for us not wanting to take care of each other.
I constantly feel that the world would be a better place if there was less, "Me! Me! Me!" and more," Us." When we work together and everyone succeeds, we are better. We are stronger.
So, I'm making this political at this point. I'm voting for Joe Biden/Kamala Harris in the next election. I will vote blue down the ticket as well. Why? Because my life depends on it. My life -- and countless others -- depends on having a government that works for the people, not against us. We need to get corporate interests out of the government. Are all the candidates I'm going to vote for perfect and totally free from corporate influence? Absolutely not. But we need to take steps to getting more people in power that care about people.
It's either that or I'd better start practicing "O Canada." That's only an option for me because I have a skilled job. I don't want to leave people here to fend for themselves with a government that doesn't care about the people.
I'm hoping I'll be able to sleep better after writing this down. I've been having trouble sleeping because I am so worried about our future and saddened by the lack of empathy around me. It's not anyone in my immediate surroundings, I feel loved and taken care of here. It's the wider world where us v. them is everywhere and where people are fighting for basic human rights every day.
We are better than this. We can do better than this.