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WASHINGTON -- A resolution to allow the legal counsel of the U.S. Senate to intervene in a Texas lawsuit that would lead to the elimination of protections for people with pre-existing conditions in obtaining health insurance has been introduced by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
The Justice Department last month said it would no longer defend the Affordable Care Act, including the lawsuit in Texas filed by 20 states, including West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
"For a lot of West Virginians with pre-existing conditions, insurance coverage is the difference between life and death. This resolution will allow the Senate to play the role the DOJ has refused to take on -- one of defending the existing law and West Virginians with pre-existing conditions," Manchin, a Democrat, said.
Manchin is running for re-election against Morrisey, the Republican nominee. Former coal mining CEO Don Blankenship, who ran third for the Republican nomination, agreed to be the Constitution Party's senatorial nominee; however, there are legal questions over his candidacy.
The Morrisey for Senate campaign Thursday issued a press release saying Manchin is defending "the failed policies of Obamacare and to attack President Donald Trump." The campaign cited statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services that said the Individual Market Premiums in West Virginia increased $441 since 2013.
"Sen. Joe Manchin continues to put the interest of Washington liberals like Chuck Schumer and his radical special-interest donors ahead of the health care of West Virginians," Nathan Brand, Morrisey for Senate spokesman, said. Brand earlier this month said while Morrisey supports the elimination of the Affordable Care Act, he supports protections for pre-existing conditions.
The Texas lawsuit contends the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare by its opponents after former President Barrack Obama, is unconstitutional.
Filing the actions were the attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, and the governors of Maine and Mississippi.
Manchin was joined by 48 other senators in the resolution, all Democrats and two independents. About 800,000 people in West Virginia will be impacted, he said.
"West Virginians with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, women who are pregnant, and many other illnesses and conditions, and their families will be directly affected," Manchin said. "We cannot go back to a time when insurance companies played God and allow them to decide who will be insured and who will not."