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Shot/Chaser: Hawley, Stenehjem Hiding from Their Own Lawsuit to Overturn Pre-existing Conditions Protections

By September 13, 2018No Comments

SHOT: For months, national patient groups, physicians, hospitals and insurers have emphasized how much the lawsuit could threaten care for people across the country. Health industry experts in the states involved in the lawsuit are making their concerns known, too.

USA Today: “Health Industry Experts Fear ‘Chaos’ if Texas Judge Suspends Affordable Care Act”

“The market would just be in chaos,” said Karen Bender, an actuary and president of Snowway Actuarial and Healthcare Consulting in Little Suamico, near Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of the states that has asked the judge to suspend the ACA.

Marty Anderson, chief marketing officer for Security Health Plan in Wisconsin, said the same.

“There would be chaos in the entire insurance market across the nation,” Anderson said. “That is the only way to describe it….I don’t understand what the end game is.”

CHASER: Feeling the heat not only from the medical community, but also from voters who strongly oppose ending protections for pre-existing conditions, the attorneys general who brought this case in the first place are trying and failing to duck and cover from it.

McClatchy: “Hawley Under Fire on Pre-existing Conditions as Pressure from Dems Mounts”

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley won’t offer details about his role in the Republican lawsuit that could strike down insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. […]

With pressure mounting, Hawley’s office has refused to clarify his role in the case after oral arguments took place in Texas last week. McClatchy first asked the office for an explanation of Hawley’s work on the case Monday.

[…] Hawley’s office already faces a Missouri Sunshine Law complaint from Protect Our Care, a liberal-leaning coalition of Missouri health care groups, for not turning over records related to his communications with President Donald Trump’s administration on the case.

HPR1 (North Dakota): “All Questions Go to Texas”

All questions related to the federal Texas lawsuit set to terminate current healthcare laws are still being referred to Texas, the North Dakota Attorney General’s office reported.

“We have no comments at this time,” Liz Brocker, public information officer for the Attorney General for North Dakota’s office stated when asked. The state, under Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, joined the lawsuit along with 19 other Attorney’s General and two governors after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated penalties for not obtaining insurance for health coverage.