Reno, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) met with Nevadans – including health care advocates, cancer survivors and patients with a variety of chronic illnesses – who shared their firsthand experiences with the Affordable Care Act. The roundtable included discussions of the Senator’s efforts to protect pre-existing conditions safeguards, reduce the price of prescription drugs, and other health care related priorities she is focused on in the Senate.
“Today, I heard so many important stories from Nevadans about how the Affordable Care Act is helping them access treatments for chronic illness, access lifesaving medications and care for their family members. I’m doing all I can in the Senate to take their stories to Washington and fight for health care policies that support them and their families by shoring up the Affordable Care Act, lowering prescription drug costs, addressing affordability, and expanding access to high-quality health care services so that they and their families have peace of mind and financial security.”
BACKGROUND:
After Congressional Republicans zeroed out the health insurance coverage requirement in their partisan tax legislation, the State of Texas and a coalition of 19 other states legally challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in the Texas vs. United States lawsuit. Instead of defending the law and its vital health care protections, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice has chosen to side with the 20 states suing to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
If the Trump Administration and the Republican Party get their way, over 1.2 million Nevadans with preexisting conditions could have to pay more for care or could be denied coverage by insurance companies. In addition as many as 472,292 women in Nevada could once again have to pay hundreds of dollars for birth control and preventive care, over 19,000 young adults in Nevada could be kicked off their parents’ health insurance and 282,000 Nevadans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP could lose coverage.
###