Issued March 04, 2015
SEIU members--healthcare workers, consumers--say #DontTakeMyCare
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is working, and the U.S. Supreme Court shouldn't put healthcare coverage in jeopardy for millions of Americans. Hundreds of ACA supporters rallied on the steps of the Court Wednesday (March 4) to deliver that message.
Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), including registered nurses, front-line healthcare workers, consumers and other working women and men stood together in the rain--singing, chanting and cheering on behalf of millions of people whose lives have been changed for the better by the ACA.
Healthcare supporters' voices carried across the Court's West Plaza outside while inside, the nine justices heard oral arguments in King v. Burwell.
The case challenges the government's issuance of tax credits to millions of people who enroll in private health insurance through the federal healthcare exchange established through ACA, putting the law in jeopardy. In just-released polling conducted for SEIU by Hart Research Associates, 71 percent of Americans--including majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans--believe these tax credits should be available in all 50 states.
Front-line healthcare workers say the healthcare law is working. "Before the healthcare law, I saw patients and families praying at the bedside wondering if this was the time they would lose their house to medical bills," said Michelle Boyle, RN, a transplant unit nurse at a hospital in Pittsburgh. Since enactment of the ACA, she said, patients are more likely to go to the doctor when ill rather than wait until emergency room care is necessary.
SEIU members joined supporters from Families USA, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Doctors for America at the rally and online via #DontTakeMyCare.