Collins isn’t telling the full story about lawsuit that could force nearly 100,000 Mainers to lose their health care coverage
In yet another attempt to publicly distance herself from the lawsuit that she is responsible for, Senator Susan Collins told New York Times that she thought the Republican lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act was “never a good move.”
But not only did Senator Collins vote to make this lawsuit possible in the first place by supporting the 2017 GOP Tax bill, she did so with the full knowledge that it would open the door to eliminating the entire ACA. In 2012, Collins signed onto an amicus brief that argued that the entire ACA could not stand without the individual mandate and then went on to vote to eliminate the individual mandate 5 years later. And even when the tax bill was cited in the Fifth Circuit case that ruled the entire ACA unconstitutional, Collins said she did not regret her vote “at all” in light of the ruling.
Collins has never been a true champion for Mainers’ health care. She voted at least a dozen times to repeal or undermine the ACA, and she has even campaigned on her record of voting “against Obamacare from the very beginning.”
“Susan Collins’ feigned ignorance doesn’t make her any less responsible for putting health care for Mainers at risk,” said Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts. “She knew exactly what she was doing when she voted for the Republican corporate tax giveaway, just like she knew what she was doing when she voted at least a dozen times to repeal or undermine the ACA. We deserve a Senator who fights to expand affordable health care for Maine people, but Senator Collins sold out people with preexisting conditions so her corporate backers could get a tax break.”
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