Washington: US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Tuesday reiterated her stand on the Affordable Care Act, saying that every vote for President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 elections was a statement that health care should be a right and not a privilege.
“We just held an election, and our country made a clear choice: each vote for @JoeBiden was a statement that health care should be a right–not a privilege. And we won that election decisively, with more votes than have ever been cast in American history,” Kamala tweeted.
According to CNN, these remarks come amid Donald Trump’s reluctance to admit defeat in the Presidential polls and his administration effort to undo former President Barack Obama’s signature health law.
In the past, Biden has promised to start working with US Congress to implement his health care agenda once he will get elected. However, Biden is likely to take office on January 20, there is little he can do, till then.
Earlier today, Kamala Harris spoke out against taking down the Affordable Care Act in the US, saying dismantling the Act would take the country ‘backwards’.
During remarks on Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris said, “I know we all know that we just had an election in America. An election where health care was very much on the ballot. Our country had a clear choice in this election. Each and every vote for Joe Biden was a statement that health care in America should be a right and not a privilege. Each and every vote for Joe Biden was a vote to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act.”
Prior to Harris’s remarks, Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday from opponents of the health care programme, who argued the 10-year-old statute was rendered unconstitutional in its entirety when Congress dialled down to zero a penalty on those remaining uninsured.
Speaking on the SC’s hearing, Kamala had further stated that, “Today the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could strike down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. If the SC agrees with the opponents of the act, their decision could take health care away from 20 million Americans. It could take away protections from more than 100 million people with pre-existing conditions in our country, and hurt the millions of Americans who have come to rely on the Affordable Care Act, getting rid of the Affordable Care Act will take us backwards.”
The Trump administration and several Republican-led states are asking the court to strike down the law, 10 years after it was passed, potentially impacting millions of Americans.