Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden claims that Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the president’s choice to fill the seat left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wants to countermand the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
During the confirmation hearings, several Democratic senators grilled Barrett about her stance on the ACA but she would not reveal any indication on how she might rule.
Biden touched on the issue while at a rally in Bristol, Pennsylvania, “Trump’s dream of wiping out Obamacare off the books is well underway because his [Supreme Court] nominee has said in the past the law should be struck down.”
“If they get their way, over 100 million Americans, including 5.3 million Pennsylvanians, will lose their protections for preexisting conditions that we worked so hard to provide,” said the former vice president. “Barack Obama and I fought too hard for that and won.”
The Democratic challenger made claims that he will “build on” the ACA so that if people with private insurance want to keep it, they will have that option or “poor” Americans “can choose a Medicare-like option.” He also added that he plans to reduce prescription drug costs by sixty percent.
In 2017 Judge Barrett wrote that Justice John Roberts “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute” in his ruling years earlier that the ACA’s individual mandate penalty was constitutional.
When questioned about her 2017 review during last week’s confirmation hearings Barrett stated that she in fact is “not hostile to the ACA.”
Democratic Senator Corey Booker asked Barrett during the hearings if she would “empathize” with his supporters who fear losing their healthcare if Obamacare is overturned in a case pending before the court in the fall of next year.
“Senator, I could certainly empathize with people who are struggling,” Barrett responded.
She added that she would consider both side’s arguments before ruling and said, “I could empathize with people who lack health care.”
