The Hill: “Democrats Turn Focus To Health Care For Supreme Court Fight”

With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in Republicans’ lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act just a week after Election Day, the court’s vacancy has ratcheted up the stakes of the election for Americans across the country. Democrats are highlighting Donald Trump’s attempts to strip away health coverage, spike costs, and deny protections for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions like cancer, asthma, and COVID-19. Here’s a sample of coverage from across the battlegrounds:

The Hill: Democrats turn focus to health care for Supreme Court fight. “Democrats are increasingly focusing on health care in pushing back on President Trump’s expected Supreme Court nominee, with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Tom Perez warning Saturday that a bolstered conservative majority on the court could vote to overturn ObamaCare.”

• “Perez, speaking on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, warned that the issue of health care is at stake both in the presidential election on Nov. 3 and one week later when the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Trump administration-backed lawsuit seeking to strike down the Affordable Care Act.”

• “‘Health care is on the ballot on Nov. 3. Health care is on the docket on Nov. 10. And we are going to remind voters every single day,’ Perez said. ‘The American people with preexisting conditions understand that the Republicans had control of everything in 2017, they couldn’t get rid of ObamaCare because the American people understand how important protections for people with preexisting conditions are. So now they’re trying to do another end run.’”

In New Hampshire:

Manchester Ink Link: Trump attacked on senior healthcare during Democratic roundtable. “The New Hampshire Democratic Party held an online roundtable this week to discuss how they believe Donald Trump would harm healthcare for senior citizens if he is reelected. State Sen. Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua) voiced … concerns that his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act would endanger Medicare access for over 300,000 New Hampshire residents.”

• Seacoast Online: NH Republicans turn their backs on Granite Staters by supporting Trump’s ACA repeal. “Trump is in court suing to kill the health care law. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corky Messner has endorsed Trump’s lawsuit, even though it would threaten protections for more than half a million people in New Hampshire with preexisting conditions like asthma and diabetes.”

• WCAX: “‘There is no defense for President Trump’s chaotic policies like his lawsuit that would cut 571,000 Granite Staters’ protections for health coverage of preexisting conditions or his disastrous COVID response that has caused our state’s economy to plummet,’ [New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley] said.”

In North Carolina:

Cardinal & Pine: The ACA Saved My Life. We Can’t Let Trump Destroy It. “It’s no exaggeration to say that the Affordable Care Act saved my life. If it weren’t for the coverage I gained through the ACA, I never would have known about the disease that was spreading through my body … There is a cruel irony in the fact that Donald Trump will travel to my home of Charlotte today to talk about health care. Perhaps the only consistent position Donald Trump has always held is his commitment to dismantling the ACA, throwing people like me into financial and medical uncertainty.”

• Charlotte Observer: “Democrats … say existing protections under the Affordable Care Act would disappear if the Supreme Court upholds a Trump-backed case that could rule the law unconstitutional … ‘The only law guaranteeing that coverage right now is the same one Donald Trump is committed to tearing apart: the Affordable Care Act. If he’s successful, millions of people across our state from all backgrounds will be thrown into financial and medical jeopardy.’”

In Ohio:

Dayton Daily News: Biden, Ohio Democrats speak out before Trump’s Dayton visit. “U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who represents Toledo-area Ohioans, said Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic forced people out of work and off health insurance. ‘More and more people are falling off their health care benefits,’ Kaptur said. ‘And we’ve had so much difficulty because of the ham-handed manner in which he’s handled the pandemic crisis.’”

In Pennsylvania:

WESA: “Fitzgerald and state Democratic Party Chair Nancy Patton Mills also noted that the administration has been waging a legal battle against the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, with no plan to replace the ACA’s protections for people with preexisting conditions. A new Supreme Court justice could deliver a fatal blow to the law this fall. ‘Just one week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear Trump’s attempt to tear down the Affordable Care Act,’ Patton Mills said.’”

In Wisconsin:

WKBT: “Senator Tammy Baldwin held a video press conference, criticizing [Trump’s] response to health care and the coronavirus. Baldwin laid out the snowball effect Trump’s decisions have created, saying the president continues to attack protections for preexisting conditions and the Affordable Care Act. Over 1.2 million Wisconsinites already have one or more preexisting conditions, and testing positive for covid-19 is now considered one of them.”

• WKBT: U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin calls out President Trump, says he hasn’t followed through with health care promises. “‘Ever since the Affordable Care Act was passed we’ve been hearing time and time again from the Republicans that they would offer something better. So where is their plan? As a candidate, Donald Trump promised he’d lower health care and lower prescription drug costs, all while protecting people with preexisting conditions. And yet, we see from this administration effort after effort to cut health care and promote junk insurance plans that aren’t even worth the paper they’re written on,’ Baldwin said.”

• Wisconsin Public Radio: “‘Testing positive for COVID-19 is a preexisting condition. As is asthma, diabetes, cancer, and pregnancy,’ Baldwin said in a statement. ‘If Donald Trump and Mike Pence get their way, these people, and the tens of millions of others across the country with preexisting conditions, could lose their care. They could go bankrupt trying to pay their medical bills, their rent, and putting food on their family’s table.’”