WISCONSIN – Yesterday, Protect Our Care Wisconsin was joined by Attorney General Josh Kaul, cancer survivor Renee Gasch and Emergency Room physician Chris Kapsner on a virtual press conference to discuss what’s at stake for Wisconsinites’ health care as Republicans rush to fill a Supreme Court vacancy with a nominee who has repeatedly opposed the Affordable Care Act during a global pandemic. As NBC26 reports, participants highlighted the grave threat that Wisconsinites will face if the Affordable Care Act is overturned when it comes before the Supreme Court next month.
On November 10, one week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, the lawsuit led by the Trump administration and 18 Republican state attorneys general to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. If they succeed and the Affordable Care Act is eliminated, 224,000 Wisconsinites could lose access to health care and more than 2.4 million Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions could lose vital protections.
Attorney General Josh Kaul highlighted the threat that Barrett will pose to the ACA if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court, stressing that 20 million Americans will lose their health care.
“That confirmation, if it goes forward, will have extraordinarily harmful consequences for people’s health,” said Kaul. “It’s not in the interests of the people of the state of Wisconsin. Not at all.”
Renee Gasch, a thyroid cancer survivor from De Pere, Wisconsin, who relies on daily treatment to survive, underscored the threat to her life and to the financial security of her family if the ACA is overturned.
“There’s nothing more stressful than thinking about the Supreme Court overturning protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” she said. “It doesn’t really feel like they’re that concerned about my life or my family’s life… Before I was just worried about dying. Now I’m afraid I’m going to bankrupt my family first.”
You can watch the press call here and you can view additional coverage of the event in WKOW 27 here. You can learn more about how the Trump administration’s lawsuit to eliminate the Affordable Care Act would devastate Wisconsinites here.
