Different Takes: ACA Is Endangered Again If Trump Gets His Supreme Court Pick; Medicare, Social Security Head Up Ballot Concerns

Modern Healthcare: Trump, GOP Still Suing To Overturn The ACA Amid COVID-19
America is in the midst of unprecedented public health and economic crises that have shaken the foundations of our nation. Nearly 200,000 Americans are dead because of COVID-19, millions have contracted the virus, and unemployment levels rival the Great Recession. And our national emergency isn’t likely to be over anytime soon. Yet, even amid a pandemic that has made access to healthcare more important than ever, President Donald Trump and Republican state attorneys general are moving forward with their lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. This assault on the healthcare of millions, at this moment of crisis, is as inexplicable as it is unforgivable. (Sen. Chris Murphy, 9/20)

CNN: Obamacare Could Be Doomed If Trump Fills Another Court Seat 
On November 10, the court is scheduled to hear arguments in California v. Texas, a case which could, yet again, decide the fate of the Barack Obama-era Affordable Care Act. Republican-appointed judges have already deemed it unconstitutional in a series of lower court rulings in 2018, setting up this appeal. Obamacare survived its last Supreme Court battle by one vote, and the man who has spent years trying to destroy it now wants to hand-pick the successor of one of the five justices who voted to uphold it. If Trump's appointee is seated prior to November 10, it could mean the end of the law as we know it -- and leave millions of Americans without healthcare in a pandemic. (Abdul El-Sayed, 9/20)

The Hill: Social Security And Medicare Are On The Ballot This November 
Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's son, Rep. James Roosevelt, Sr., founded our organization to protect Social Security and Medicare in 1982, we have not endorsed presidential candidates, focusing instead on congressional races. Until now. For the first time in 38 years, we are throwing our weight behind Joe Biden for President of the United States. As an organization rooted in the social insurance policies of FDR's New Deal — and after observing relentless attacks on lifeline programs like Social Security and Medicare — we could not in good conscience remain neutral this year. (Max Richtman, 9/20)

Los Angeles Times: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Protected Your Abortion Rights. Be Afraid Now That She's Gone 
There were two things about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg I admired deeply. One was her relentless defense of abortion and reproductive rights, and the other was her excellent planking form in the gym. Balancing your body weight on your hands and feet for 30 to 60 seconds is a challenge at any age, let alone 80-plus years old. But, then, fighting for abortion rights and holding a plank draw on some of the same skills — tenacity and a willingness to push through fatigue. Reproductive rights have been constantly under attack in the nearly half century since the court ruled women had a right to a legal and safe abortion in Roe vs. Wade — and Ginsburg never gave up the fight. (Carla Hall, 9/19)

Modern Healthcare: How To Achieve Universal, Resilient, Affordable Healthcare For All
Before the pandemic, families were already struggling with the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and prescription drugs. Then, the pandemic struck, and it has shown that our healthcare system must be more resilient and less vulnerable to disaster; more equitable and less prone to racial injustice; and more affordable and less financially destructive. My solution: Pass the Medicare for America Act, a bill I introduced with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) that would achieve universal, affordable, high-quality health coverage. Based on Medicare and Medicaid, it expands the benefits and services covered to include prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing services, and long-term services and supports. (Rosa DeLauro, 9/19)

Modern Healthcare: Too Many Americans Continue To Slip Through The Cracks Of Our Healthcare System
Since I became chair of the Ways and Means Committee, we have fought to make healthcare more affordable and expand access to coverage, while President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have continued their crusade to weaken the system and to strip protections from those with preexisting conditions. Continuing to improve our healthcare system has always been an urgent and challenging undertaking, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing problems and also shone a harsh light on long-standing healthcare inequities in the U.S. (Richard Neal, 9/19)

USA Today: Trump-Biden Debate: How Would They Fix Chaotic, Costly Health System?
In medical school, we rely on acronyms to summarize critical aspects of complicated topics. We have one such acronym to describe key aspects that we hope our health care system will one day embody: USA — universal, simple, affordable. Today, health care in America meets none of these criteria. Our country is the only industrialized nation that has yet to commit to providing all of its residents access to affordable, quality care. As medical students in Cleveland and leaders of our school's health justice organizations, we find it fitting that the first 2020 presidential debate will be hosted on Sept. 29 on the Health Education Campus, an education hub we share with other health professional students. (Rohit Anand, Dhiksha Balaji, Aparna Narendrula and Jasmine Serpen, 9/21)

Fox News: Biden's Coronavirus Lies – Don't Fall For Them. Here Are The Facts 
If President Trump acted sooner on coronavirus 'all the people would still be alive'Joe Biden is either a coward or more forgetful than even his harshest critics realize. It’s one or the other. Last week, during a speech in Michigan, Biden said President Donald Trump “failed to do his job on purpose” when the coronavirus arrived, effectively accusing the president of murder. “It was a life and death betrayal of the American people,” Biden continued. “Experts say that if he had acted just one week sooner, 36,000 people would have been saved.” Biden even accused the president of sending the economy into a “tailspin,” adding that the recession was “created by Donald Trump’s negligence.” (Newt Gingrich, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: It's Time To Move The Country Forward On Racial Health Disparities
The commission should develop and coordinate initiatives designed to address the social determinants of health to target infant mortality, mental health, healthy aging, substance abuse and other chronic issues. It should emphasize the importance of public health, articulate a national target for healthcare expenditures, and outline the path to achieve that goal.Closing the racial divide means we must also look inward. (Michael Ugwueke, 9/19)

Bloomberg: Trump EPA Rule On Coal Ash Puts Lives And The Environment At Risk
To help some of the country’s dirtiest electric-power plants save a little money, the Environmental Protection Agency is willing to imperil the lives and health of Americans who live downstream from them. A new rule that relaxes restrictions on ash pollution is the latest effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to sustain coal power in the face of crushing competition from renewables. And like the others, it’s sure to prove ineffective, wasteful and hugely damaging to the environment. (9/18)

Modern Healthcare: Let's Work Harder To End Racism, Health Disparities
Cities and counties in my home state of Ohio have led the charge in declaring racism a public health crisis. And I joined colleagues Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to continue the effort at the federal level. We introduced a Senate resolution that declares racism a national public health crisis, and acknowledges the systemic barriers that people of color, especially Black Americans, continue to face in our healthcare system. (Sherrod Brown, 9/19)