Amy Coney Barrett puts Ohio’s health at risk

Today, the U.S. Senate is set to confirm President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Sen. Sherrod Brown opposed the confirmation, Sen. Rob Portman has said he will vote in favor of Coney Barrett. Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert issued the following statement:

“Today, more Ohioans can see a doctor, afford medication or seek help from a therapist than could 10 years ago. We have the Affordable Care Act to thank for that. Amy Coney Barrett opposes the ACA, and soon after the election, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could overturn it. The ACA has extended health coverage to 857,000 Ohioans. Medicaid expansion under the law supports 54,000 Ohio jobs. Ohio still has one of the nation’s worst addiction problems. Half a million Ohioans received mental health or substance use disorder treatment through Medicaid expansion.

“Black and brown Ohioans are more likely to suffer from poor health due to outright discrimination as well as entrenched obstacles to healthy food, jobs with benefits, and clean water and air. The ACA chips away at these structural barriers by increasing insurance coverage among all racial groups, especially among Black, Asian, Native Americans and Latinx Americans.

“Of course we have no way to know for sure how Coney Barrett will rule, but her impending confirmation appears to be the culmination of a decade-long campaign to put the needs of insurance corporations and the wealthy few ahead of everyone else’s well-being. I hope she considers that the ACA has not only saved lives, but it has also made many people’s lives measurably better.”

More Policy Matters analysis of the ACA and Medicaid:

• Ohioans can’t afford to lose the ACA
• Medicaid’s dual role: health care and fiscal stimulus
• Medicaid expansion saved 1,452 Ohioans’ lives
• Advocates, experts and physicians call on Senate to boost Medicaid funding in next stimulus
• Medicaid supports Ohio jobs
• Ohio’s Growing Health Care Sector