On the recordJuly 24, 2018
I want to speak about a brave young woman, an Arizonan named Vanessa Ramirez. When she was just 23 years old, Vanessa received a devastating diagnosis. Doctors told her that she had ovarian cancer, yet Vanessa refused to put her dreams on hold. She somehow managed to fit in chemotherapy sessions between her classes at Arizona State. Eventually, Vanessa pulled through. She beat cancer, and, today, she has two happy, healthy kids. Vanessa has overcome a lot in her young life, but thanks to the Affordable Care Act, there is one challenge she won't be forced to endure: going without health insurance. Despite her preexisting condition, Vanessa was able to purchase an affordable plan through the ObamaCare marketplace. Her children are also covered under KidsCare, our State's Children's Health Insurance Program. However, if Donald Trump gets his way, Vanessa's story soon could take a sad turn. Having abolished the individual mandate, Republican State attorneys general, backed by President Trump, are now arguing in court that rules prohibiting insurers from charging higher rates on the basis of a preexisting condition or even denying coverage completely should be ruled unconstitutional. The mandate is so central to ObamaCare, Republicans claim that, without it, the courts should simply throw out the whole Affordable Care Act altogether. Their arguments are clearly baseless. But if Republicans succeed, millions of Americans like Vanessa could quickly lose their coverage.…





