As President Trump prepares to campaign with Patrick Morrisey tonight, Morrisey is working overtime to conceal the role he has long played in the GOP repeal-and-sabotage agenda, including his own lawsuit to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Here’s a closer look at his record:
Patrick Morrisey Supports Repealing The ACA And Its Protections For 737,000 West Virginians with Pre-Existing Conditions
Patrick Morrisey: “We Need To Repeal Obamacare.” “We need to repeal Obamacare and the onerous regulations that have cause premiums to skyrocket, while denying many West Virginia families the ability to choose their doctors and their health insurance plans. I support policies that will create more competition in the healthcare sector, so we can lower prices, improve access, and increase quality.” [Pineville Independent Herald, 3/27/18]
Morrisey Campaigned On His “Fight To Repeal And Replace Obama’s Government-controlled Health Care System.” “Obamacare has hurt West Virginians from all walks of life with higher premiums, fewer health care options, and one-size-fits-all government-run health care. Patrick Morrisey continues to fight to repeal and replace Obama’s government-controlled health care system in order to bring down premiums, foster choice and innovation in healthcare, and get government out of the doctor-patient relationship. Patrick is committed to protecting coverage for those who need it most, especially those with pre-existing conditions.” [Morrisey for Senate, accessed 8/20/18]
What would full repeal of the Affordable Care Act get eliminate?
- Protections for 737,900 West Virginians with pre-existing conditions, if they buy coverage on their own
- Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
- Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
- Ban on annual and lifetime limits
- Ban on insurance discrimination against women
- Limit on out-of-pocket costs
- Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people
- Rules to hold insurance companies accountable
- Small business tax credits
- Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 29,000 West Virginians.
Patrick Morrisey Is A Party To The Trump-GOP Lawsuit To Roll Back Coverage For People With Pre-Existing Conditions
Although he claims to support protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Patrick Morrisey is a party to a lawsuit that would roll back that coverage and eliminate the protections for pre-existing conditions that exist in the ACA. Morrisey’s participation in the suit puts the health of the 737,900 West Virginians living with a pre-existing condition at risk and would take us back to the days when insurers routinely denied coverage or charged unaffordable premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, asthma and hypertension.
2018: Morrisey Was One Of The First Attorney Generals To Sign On To A Lawsuit Challenging The Affordable Care Act. “Manchin is referring to a lawsuit filed in a U.S. district court in Texas on Feb. 26, 2018. The lawsuit was signed by 18 attorneys general and two governors, all of them Republicans. The suit challenges the Affordable Care Act, arguing that ‘the ACA is unlawful’ and seeking to enjoin, or block, its operation. One of the attorney generals who signed onto the lawsuit is Morrisey. He is listed as a signatory on a court document in the case dated as recently as June 20, 2018, or two days before Manchin’s tweet. We could not find any subsequent statement by Morrisey that he had withdrawn his support for the legal action.” [Politifact, 6/26/18]
Patrick Morrissey Said The Pre-Ex Lawsuit Would “Get Rid Of The Awful Policy Of Obamacare.” “Similarly, Morrisey said he supports pre-existing protection coverage despite being party to the lawsuit that would eliminate the law providing those protections. ‘You can believe that some of the pieces, helping those who need it most, are good but still have a lawsuit to get rid of the awful policy of Obamacare,’ Morrisey said.” [Politico, 8/17/18]
Although Morrisey’s Campign Claimed He Supports Coverage For Pre-Existing Conditions — Despite His Lawsuit, Which Would Eliminate The ACA’s Protections For Those With Pre-Existing Conditions — Morrisey Himself Recently Called Concern About Coverage For People With Pre-Existing Conditions A “Scam” And A “Fake Issue.” “A spokesman for Morrisey’s campaign said the attorney general doesn’t believe pre-existing condition protections should be eliminated and called the ad ‘false.’ ‘There is no debate over coverage for preexisting conditions,’ Nathan Brand said in a statement.” [The Hill, 8/17/18]
- Morrisey, One Month Earlier: Called Concern About Coverage For People With Pre-Existing Conditions A “Scam” And A “Fake Issue.” “There’s no debate with respect to pre-existing conditions. People want to help those who need assistance the most, so he has come up with this fake issue, this scam.” [“Fox and Friends,” Fox News, 7/25/18]
Morrisey Has Used His Position As Attorney General To Try To Dismantle Or Delay The ACA Before
Morrisey Unsuccessfully Sued To Block The ACA. “In October of [2014], he filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services, contending the department did not have the authority to suspend Obamacare’s insurance mandate and accusing President Obama of ‘cherry-picking which laws his Administration will enforce.’ In July 2016, the D.C. circuit court ruled that West Virginia had not suffered an injury in fact and lacked standing.” [National Review, 2/14/17]