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Michigan joins ACA lawsuit

Protecting law the focus

Dana Nessel, attorney general, state of Michigan

MARQUETTE — Michigan has joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia in opposition to a U.S. District Court ruling that held the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.

Attorney General Dana Nessel, with the support of and in coordination with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, filed a motion late Thursday on behalf of the state of Michigan to intervene in a federal lawsuit that seeks to defend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a Friday news release from Nessel’s office.

“The Affordable Care Act provides important protections — including protecting people with pre-existing conditions — and access to health care for hundreds of thousands of residents in Michigan,” Nessel said in the release. “We have a strong interest in ensuring that the strongest possible arguments are presented in support of the ACA.”

The ACA was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in December that the Obama-era law is invalid now that Congress reduced the individual tax penalty for not buying health insurance to zero dollars effective Jan. 1, as part of a tax reform bill signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 22, 2017.

Two other newly elected attorneys general — Colorado’s Philip J. Weiser and Nevada’s Aaron Ford — along with Iowa Attorney General Thomas Miller also joined the initial 16 defendant states who filed an appeal of O’Connor’s ruling with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Jan. 3, the release states.

O’Connor issued a stay following his ruling, which will keep the ACA in effect while the ruling is appealed, according to a December New York Times article.

As stated in the motion, Michigan, Colorado, Nevada and Iowa “seek to defend the ACA to protect their existing health care infrastructure and the orderly operation of their health care systems, which would be thrown in disarray if the ACA were ruled unconstitutional,” the release states.

“As the chief law enforcement officer of the state, I have the authority and the responsibility to intervene in any action in which I believe the interests of the people of the state of Michigan are implicated,” Nessel said.

In the release, Whitmer said health care for “hundreds of thousands of Michiganders is on the line.”

“If this decision is upheld, it will make it harder for families across the state to get the care they need,” Whitmer said. “That’s why Attorney General Nessel and I are stepping up to defend the ACA on behalf of the state of Michigan. As governor I will never stop fighting to ensure everyone in Michigan has access to quality, affordable health care.”

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