Democrats Win Big on Healthcare Access & Juneteenth Federal Holiday by Ron Malzer
Thirty-one million Americans will continue to have healthcare access under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Thanks to a US Supreme Court ruling just issued on June 17, the ACA is here to stay.
Passed into law by a Democratic Congress and signed by President Obama in early 2010 , Obamacare has been fought relentlessly by Republicans for eleven years. Republicans have spent massive amounts of time, on the taxpayer dollar, demonizing Obamacare, they have no replacement to offer.
The Supreme Court is ruling shuts down the latest GOP ploy against healthcare access for ordinary Americans. Red states had asked the US Supreme Court to throw out the ACA, based on the bizarre theory that a tax penalty, currently zero, made the ACA unconstitutional. Seven members of the Court had no trouble writing a legal ruling that can be summarized in one word: “Baloney!”
Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul worked together to withdraw Wisconsin from this privilege-based lawsuit, one which had the full support of our GOP-controlled legislature. A big thanks to Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul for being tireless champions of healthcare access for every American!
This decision is a huge relief for the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who’ll continue to have access to affordable health insurance under the ACA.
The court’s decision delivers a blow to Senator Ron Johnson and Republicans across Wisconsin, who’ve made it a top priority to strip health care away from millions of Americans, including Wisconsinites.
Going forward, the state GOP almost certainly will continue working to limit BadgerCare coverage. And so, healthcare will again be on the ballot in 2022. Gov. Evers remains committed to expanding BadgerCare to cover more Wisconsinites.
Wisconsinites need to build a strong voter turnout to turn out of office those GOP legislators who are working to limit healthcare access.
Runaway medical costs are locked in place by the GOP. Democrats have been and will continue working to lower health care and prescription drug costs. Thanks to Democratic leadership and President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, more Americans than ever are now covered under the ACA.
And on Thursday, President Joseph Biden signed into law a bill that never would have seen the light of day with a Republican president or a Republican congress. It was a bill that is a symbol of progress on America’s reckoning with systematic racial injustice, and symbols are important. Starting next June 19th the day in which slavery was finally ended by an 1865 decree, Juneteenth will be celebrated as a federal holiday.
Let us make every day a day to reflect on the 244-year American genocide, and our failure as a country to address the severe long-term impact of white supremacy. And let us pledge to work tirelessly between now and Election Day 2022 to work toward healthcare access for all!