March 27, 2019:

This week, the Trump administration signaled that it will argue for the complete invalidation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN), a national membership body of women and people of trans experience living with HIV, condemns the Trump administration’s latest and most egregious attack to date against the ACA and, by extension, our most basic human right to health care.

In December, a Texas district court judged ruled in Texas v. United States that the ACA was unconstitutional. At the time, the Trump administration refused to defend the hallmark law, arguing that the protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down. The administration was reckless in not defending the ACA and has now shifted to a more extreme position. In a short letter to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the deeply conservative court with which the case now sits, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that it agrees that the ACA should be deemed unconstitutional as a whole.

This is not the first time that the Trump administration has attempted to subjugate already marginalized people and communities by blocking access to basic health needs. Since January 2017, it has used a number of administrative tactics to slowly and subtly undermine the long-term viability of the ACA, such as defunding key components of the law in President 2020 budget.

However, the DOJ’s recent decision to no longer defend the ACA is not only unprecedented, but undermines the administration’s own alleged goal to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030. Without the ACA, millions will lose protections from discrimination on the basis of pre-existing conditions and access to health care. This will especially impact communities disproportionately affected by HIV, including the U.S. South, women and people of trans experience, people of color, LGBQ people, and low-income people. We can’t end the epidemic without health care.

PWN is committed to fighting these attacks on health care and to advancing real, long-term solutions, such as Medicare for All and the recently introduced Protecting Pre-existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019.

We’re in this for the long haul. Are you with us?
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