Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the country, joined a coalition of individuals and cities representing nearly six million Americans in our suit against the Trump Administration’s intentional and unlawful sabotage of the Affordable Care Act.

We also amended our complaint to detail President Trump’s most recent deliberate and systematic attacks on the health law, which have driven premiums up and pushed Americans off of quality insurance plans.

President Trump continues to wage a relentless campaign to dismantle the ACA, violating his constitutional duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

The Trump Administration’s most recent efforts to sabotage the ACA include additional cuts to outreach and advertising funding and attempts to undermine ACA exchanges by pushing junk plans that do not include the protections–including for people with pre-existing conditions–that the ACA guarantees. These and other continued acts of unlawful sabotage since the suit’s filing five months ago have made quality health insurance more expensive and less accessible:

• The number of uninsured Americans is going up. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the number of uninsured Americans under age 65 rose from 27 million in a 2016 study to 29 million in a 2018 study. A recent Gallup poll shows that the uninsured rate is currently at a four-year high.
• Premiums are higher than they would be without the Trump Administration’s sabotage. From 2017 to 2018, premiums increased by 37% for a benchmark ACA plan. Studies estimate that nationwide, the average unsubsidized annual insurance premium in 2019 is between $580 and $970 higher than it would be without President Trump’s sabotage.
• Americans have fewer insurers to choose from. The average number of insurers per state fell from 5.6 in 2016 to 4.0 in 2019.

On behalf of Columbus, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia, and residents of Charlottesville, we’ve asked that the court order the President and his Administration to faithfully execute the ACA by, among other things, restoring funding for advertising and for Navigator groups, expanding open enrollment, and promoting the availability of comprehensive, reasonably-priced health insurance for individuals and families with preexisting conditions.