Spanberger Statement on Supreme Court Decision to Protect Virginians with Pre-Existing Conditions, Preserve Existing Healthcare Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a partisan lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act — a lawsuit that has caused premiums to rise across the country, increased uninsured rates, and attempted to strip protections from Central Virginians with pre-existing conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” said Spanberger. “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 healthcare 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 healthcare coverage.”

Soon after arriving in Congress, Spanberger voted in support of a bipartisan resolution to condemn the Trump Administration’s legal campaign to gut the existing healthcare law. The Spanberger-cosponsored resolution fought to preserve protections provided under the current healthcare law — including protections for those with pre-existing conditions, prevention of lifetime coverage caps, and the ability for children to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan until the age of 26.

###