CBS19

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the American Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, on Thursday.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring was one of the attorneys generals who fought to protect the federal health care law.

Following the ruling, he released this statement:

“Today’s decision is a massive win for every single Virginian and every single American. This lawsuit was no more than a thinly veiled political attack from the start, forcing millions to live in fear that their health care could be ripped away from them at any moment. It is unconscionable that Trump and his Republican allies played politics with human lives, especially as a global pandemic ravaged our country, killing 600,000 Americans, but the threat of healthcare loss is now gone.
 
“I am incredibly proud to have played a role in defending the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that it remains the law of the land. Everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care no matter who they are, what their medical history is, their employment status, or what financial background they have.”

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger released this statement:

“Today is welcome news for millions of Virginians, including thousands of our neighbors in Central Virginia who live with a pre-existing condition, who faced the serious risk of losing their access to coverage during a global pandemic. If this effort had succeeded, we would have lost the ability to keep our children on insurance plans until the age of 26. We would have seen the upending of Medicaid expansion in Virginia, and our ability to deal with the ongoing, devastating opioid epidemic in our Commonwealth would have been gutted. This hyper-partisan and reckless lawsuit was a political ploy to settle old scores, and I am glad to see the Supreme Court reject it. Going forward, I will continue to support commonsense efforts to stabilize the insurance marketplace and fix our health care system in the wake of this pandemic, and I am committed to protecting Central Virginians with pre-existing conditions, lowering healthcare and prescription drug costs for families and seniors, and increasing access to affordable health care coverage.”

Senator Tim Kaine issued this statement:

“Good news. Now can we finally focus on making the ACA better instead of fighting off GOP efforts to strip health care from millions?” 

Senator Mark Warner released this statement:

“Nearly 700,000 Virginians have gained health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and many more Americans now have health care coverage today than at any point in history because of it. Today, the Supreme Court has once again ruled that the Affordable Care Act will remain law of the land, but the important work in Congress isn’t over. Now we must continue to improve and build upon the success of the Affordable Care Act in a way that expands health care coverage to more Americans and work to further reduce health care costs.”