Thread by @RepKatiePorter

Some of you may have heard that the President signed an Executive Order yesterday to “protect people with pre-existing conditions.” As a mom, I’m pretty good at sniffing out little white lies, and this set my parent spidey senses off. (1/7)

I asked myself, why would the President need to protect people with pre-existing conditions when the ACA already does that? Maybe it’s because he’s trying to tear the law apart in court, which would put millions of Americans at risk of losing their coverage in a pandemic. (2/7)

This Executive Order—which carries zero legal weight—is nothing more than a press release to distract from the Administration trying to rip up the ACA. Don’t take my word for it, see this explanation from health and legal expert @nicholas_bagley.

https://twitter.com/nicholas_bagley/status/1309225222562656256

(3/7)

Perhaps the worst part of this whole charade is that this is happening against the backdrop of a pandemic that will leave millions more Americans with pre-existing conditions. (4/7)

washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…

Today, there are 7,000,000 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. We don’t know how many of these Americans will be left with permanent damage to their lungs, hearts, and other organs—aka a pre-existing condition. But we’ve seen that this can happen to those with even mild symptoms. (5/7)

It’s likely that we will come out on the other side of this pandemic with millions more Americans having pre-existing conditions. If the ACA is gone, this executive order will NOT protect them. They’ll be on their own. (6/7)

I know the ACA isn’t perfect, and I came to Congress to work with my colleagues to fix its broken pieces. Still, throwing this legislation out, and leaving millions of lives on the line, isn’t the answer. Neither is an EO just for looks. The American people deserve better. (7/7)