June 27, 2020

Trump Rails Against Obamacare as Coronavirus Cases Surge

Millions could lose their coverage if the president gets his way.

Stefani Reynolds/ZUMA

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Months into a global pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 127,000 Americans, President Donald Trump still refuses to take responsibility for his administration’s underwhelming response. On Saturday, the president started off his weekend by railing against Obamacare—one of the few lifelines available to millions of people in this global health crisis.

“Obamacare is a joke!” the president tweeted. “I will ALWAYS PROTECT PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS!!!”

Trump’s offered his latest Twitter missives just after his administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court, asking the court to strike down the entirety of the law, a move that could leave 23 million Americans without health insurance when they need it most. If the Court rules in the Trump administration’s favor, millions of COVID-19 survivors could lose their health coverage because the virus itself would be considered a preexisting condition. The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage due to preexisting conditions. Trump has long claimed that he wants to protect people with preexisting conditions, but his actions have always been to pursue the opposite.

And as the country’s response to the coronavirus cripples the economy, Obamacare has offered an avenue for the millions of newly unemployed to maintain health insurance coverage. If the Supreme Court strikes down the law later this year, it could deprive those unemployed people of their health insurance too.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases continue to surge in many parts of the country. San Francisco Mayor London Breed just delayed that city’s second phase of re-opening because of a spike in confirmed cases, while the governors of Texas and Florida have also reversed re-openings due to sudden surges.

The Supreme Court will likely hear oral arguments on this case in the fall, putting the coronavirus, Obamacare, and the presidential campaign on a direct collision course.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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