FACT CHECK: Collins Repeatedly Supported Efforts to Gut Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions — Including an Ongoing Lawsuit

Collins voted multiple times for bills to gut the health care law and threaten protections for 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions and is still standing behind a GOP lawsuit to completely overturn the law

ATLANTA — Yesterday in a Facebook live Q&A, Congressman Doug Collins doubled-down on his support for congressional Republicans’ failed health care repeal efforts before trying to claim that “our plans actually covered pre-existing conditions.”

Here’s the reality: not only would Republicans’ health care repeal bill have “weaken[ed] existing protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” but Collins has stood behind a reckless GOP-backed lawsuit to completely overturn the health care law including its critical protections for those with pre-existing conditions, praising it as a way to “overcome” the law.

What would Collins’ preferred outcome look like in this case?

• Over 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions could see massive price increases or lose access to care.
• Nearly half a million Georgians would lose their health care coverage.
• Georgians 26 and younger would be kicked off their families’ coverage.
• The CDC would lose an essential public health fund.
• Essential benefits coverage ranging from maternity care to basic prescription drugs could be gone.

“Congressman Doug Collins’ record speaks for itself: instead of working to protect access to health care, he’s spent years fighting to take it away,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Now Collins is trying to hide behind election year promises in a pandemic while running away from his toxic history of trying to weaken protections for 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions.”

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