Senator Mesnard Wants to Take Away Arizonans’ Health Care

Republican senator supports GOP lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the midst of a pandemic

PHOENIX — Republican Senator J.D. Mesnard said during a debate last week that he thinks the Affordable Care Act is “unconstitutional,” and agrees with the lawsuit before the Supreme Court seeking to overturn it. If the ACA is repealed, it would immediately kick over 300,000 Arizonans off their insurance and roll back protections for over 2.7 million Arizonans with pre-existing conditions in the middle of a global health crisis.

“J.D. Mesnard just admitted what we’ve known all along: he wants to take away Arizonans’ health care, even as the coronavirus continues to spread across our state,” said Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Charlie Fisher. “The GOP bungled their pandemic response, and now Republicans like Mesnard want to pour salt in the wound and gut Arizonans’ access to medical insurance. The people of Arizona deserve better, and that’s why Democrats will win the legislative majority in November.”

Mesnard has been a consistent opponent of affordable health insurance for Arizonans who need it most. He introduced legislation to allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions if the ACA is overturned, supported expanding junk insurance plans to increase premiums and leave people with pre-existing conditions unprotected during the pandemic, and even voted againstproviding over 30,000 children from low-income families with health care coverage.

This recent admission of Mesnard’s is particularly concerning following President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, whose record indicates that she, too, believes the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments in the case against the ACA on November 10, with no end to the pandemic in sight.

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