On July 9, Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, and Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo held a press call to denounce the Trump administration’s attempt to have the courts declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and place the health care of millions of Americans at risk.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

“I think that it’s important for us to say at the outset that this president is one of the cruelest politicians that I’ve ever come across. But his attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act, with no real plans to replace it, is one of the most disgusting and dastardly ploys that I have ever encountered. The consequences for Floridians would be devastating. I mean it is critical that we talk about what’s at stake as the Fifth Circuit considers the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration has now completely abandoned protecting or even pretending to defend it. The president promised better health coverage and he’s clearly repeatedly lied to us all.”

Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

“This is just one more act of cruelty against Americans.

As we all know, if there was a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, we would have millions of Floridians that would be affected. Just in my district, in Florida’s 26th congressional district, we have more than 100,000 people who rely on the ACA to get their healthcare.

So what does this mean exactly?

Families, for example, who have severely disabled children who are particularly reliant on the benefits of the A.C.A. would lose coverage. If you are older than 55, you would have to pay three to five times more in coverage than younger people. If we overturn the A.C.A., children would not be able to stay on their parents coverage, as we saw, until the age of 26. Trump has broken his healthcare promises. He has made it clear that he has no plan and has no care to protect Americans and their healthcare.

The only plan that he has is politically motivated lawsuit that will raise costs and cut access to care.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo

“Throwing out protections for people with pre-existing conditions doesn’t make health care great again.

Allowing insurance companies to charge seniors over triple what they charge younger people doesn’t help make healthcare great again. Returning to a time when insurers could drop young people from their parent’s health plans before 26 doesn’t make health care great again.

If the Trump administration succeeds with this lawsuit, Trump won’t be making health care better for Florida.

This is another example of why Trump isn’t going to win Florida: When voters ask themselves the question: what’s Donald Trump done for me? The answer is clear: nothing.”