Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey on Wednesday blasted Republicans’ pursuit of bills fighting opioid abuse as hypocritical because of the Trump administration’s decision to abandon Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke about the opioid legislation during a press conference of top Democrats criticizing the Department of Justice’s decision last week to not defend the law’s pre-existing condition protections in a lawsuit. His comments come a day after the House passed 25 opioid bills, with more expected.
“Whatever you do with opioids … is going to be meaningless if you have more and more people who have substance abuse problems who can’t get insurance,” Pallone said. “It is just total hypocrisy. What they do with this action and refusing to support the [Affordable Care Act] is going to drive up costs.”
Pallone added that the bills, which are part of a larger group of more than 50 that were advanced by the committee last month, don’t do “much for treatment or helping people recover.”
He said substance abuse is a pre-existing condition that insurers would not be required to cover if a lawsuit led by Texas moves forward. The lawsuit argues that a federal court should strike down Obamacare’s pre-existing condition protections because they are invalid after a repeal of the individual mandate starting in 2019.
The Department of Justice agreed with the lawsuit in a brief filed in federal court last week. Typically the federal government defends federal laws, making the decision to not fight the lawsuit unusual.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will make healthcare a major issue going into the 2018 midterms in November.
“This action in the court is the latest evidence Republicans have launched an all-out assault on Americans’ healthcare,” she said.
Not all Republicans have praised the Justice Department move. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., called the administration’s argument “far-fetched,” and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Politico Tuesday that the Senate GOP supports the protections.
However, Democrats counter that gutting pre-existing condition protections were a key plank of Obamacare repeal efforts last year.
[Opinion: Punish drug cartels, not doctors, for the opioid epidemic]
