***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21 AT 1:30 PM ***
CONTACT:
Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Health Access California, awright@health-access.org, 916-870-4782
Yvonne Vasquez, Communications Associate, yvasquez@health-access.org, 916-407-7078
CA SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE HEARING TO EXPLORE CALIFORNIA IMPACTS AND RESPONSES TO
ACA SUPREME COURT CASE
“The Affordable Care Act in Jeopardy: What does this mean for California?”
SACRAMENTO, CA – This Wednesday, October 21, the California Senate Committee on Health chaired by Senator Dr. Richard Pan will host a live stream hearing on The Affordable Care Act in Jeopardy: What does it mean for California?
The Supreme Court will have a challenging court case that will threaten the ACA which will be heard in less than a month. A vote is also scheduled this upcoming Thursday for a new SCOTUS Justice. California lawmakers will explore the potential specific impacts of striking down the ACA in our state and on our health system along with potential responses.
The California Senate Committee will hear testimony from consumers, as well as experts, academics, health care providers, and patient advocates. Participants will include Melanie Fontes Rainer, Special Assistant Attorney General; Peter Lee, Executive Director Covered California; Will Lightbourne Director, Department of Health Care Services; Jen Flory Policy Advocate Western Center on Law and Poverty; and Anthony Wright with Health Access California.
“Another Republican lawsuit, supported by President Trump threatens to overturn the ACA and would eliminate federal support for all of these gains,” said Dr. Richard Pan, pediatrician and state senator. “California’s Attorney General and others have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which is scheduled to hear the case on November 10th. What will happen to Californians if Trump’s Supreme Court rules in favor of the Republican lawsuit during the worst pandemic in a century? The Senate Committee on Health will hear from experts and stakeholders on what an adverse ruling by the Supreme Court means for California.”
“With a new Supreme Court Justice being rushed through, and oral arguments to strike down the Affordable Care Act in just a few weeks, California legislators are doing their due diligence to detail the potential impacts to our state and the health system on which we all rely. The health care of all Californians could potentially be impacted by this Supreme Court decision, with millions losing coverage, millions more seeing premium spikes and less benefits, and all losing key patient protections, including those for people with pre-existing conditions,” Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition. “California needs to know the severity of what is at stake with even the possibility of the President’s Supreme Court picks striking down the ACA, and what options the state has to respond, however limited.”
WHEN: Wednesday, October 21 1:30pm PST
WHAT: Senate Committee on Health: The Affordable Care Act in Jeopardy: What does it mean for California?
WHO: Anthony Wright from Health Access California will speak: others include:
- Deborah Reidy Kelch, MPPA, Independent Consultant
- Melanie Fontes Rainer, Special Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice
- Peter Lee, Executive Director, Covered California
- Will Lightbourne, Director, Department of Health Care Services and Jacey Cooper, State Medicaid Director and Chief Deputy Director of Health Care Programs
- Ben Johnson, Principal Fiscal and Policy Analyst, Legislative Analyst Office
- Jennifer Cruikshank, CEO at Riverside University Health System-Medical Center & Clinics
- Leslie Abasta-Cummings, CEO, Livingston Health Center, Merced County
- Beth Griffiths, MD, MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco
- George Balteria, CEO Collective:Choice Insurance Solution
- Jen Flory, Policy, Advocate, Western Center on Law and Poverty
- Jeffrey Reynoso, Latino Coalition for Healthy California
LIVE STREAM: You can view here
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