This morning, healthcare reform advocacy organization Protect Our Care held a webinar in which they went over the results of a new national survey of 1,200 Americans conducted a couple of weeks ago called, simply enough, "Next Steps on Healthcare: What Voters Want".
For the most part, none of the results are terribly surprising:
Lowering the cost of healthcare and expanding affordable health insurance coverage is a top priority for a large majority of voters.
There's strong support across the board for three major healthcare proposals:
Lowering the cost of health insurance for people who purchase coverage on their own
Giving Medicare the power to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices
Giving low-income Americans who are uninsured the opportunity to obtain health insurance at little or no cost
Several of the questions were more about the framing of the issues--that is, which specific types of messaging work best.
Having stated the above, the ACA is still indeed very much in jeopardy. Going forward, the case will follow one of two possible routes:
Officially, it's supposed to go back to the judge who ruled against the ACA in the first place a year ago to "reconsider" which parts of it can be "saved"...after which it would then go back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. That full process could take well over a year.
However, it's possible that the Supreme Court will intervene and agree to take the case up instead of it going to the original judge first, which is what the defending states are now requesting. This full process...could still take up to a year, although it's conceivable that a final ruling would be issued before the election.
Well, as if Impeachment Day wasn't tense and historic enough already, the 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has finally issued their decision on the Texas vs. U.S. (aka Texas vs. Azar, aka Texas Fold'em) lawsuit intended to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act:
Before KING, ELROD, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, Circuit Judge:
How Pending Decision on Obamacare Could Upend 2020 Campaign
A federal appeals court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act could be a huge headache for the president and take Democrats’ focus off Medicare for all.
A federal appeals court in New Orleans is preparing a ruling on the Affordable Care Act that could put the law’s future front and center in the presidential race, overwhelming the current Democratic debate over Medicare for all and reigniting the health care-driven worries that helped Democrats win back the House last year.
I probably won't have any other blog posts today as I'm off to Lansing, Michigan this morning to attend this:
The fight to stop health care repeal isn’t over yet — far from it. At stake right now: Higher costs. Medicaid. Medicare. Coverage for pre-existing conditions. Prohibitions on discrimination against women and people over age 50.
If you’re sick and tired of the Republican war on health care, join people across the country who are joining Protect Our Care’s nationwide bus tour. Make your voice heard at the Protect Our Care bus stop in Lansing.
Join us at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on Wednesday, October 3 to voice your opposition to Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, which has cut health care coverage and driven up health care costs for millions.
