Joyce continues to fight for individuals with pre-existing conditions

The U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee on Monday blocked a vote on an amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) that would ensure healthcare coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions.

“We came to the table to offer a commonsense path forward in the ongoing debate on how to protect people with preexisting conditions, but by refusing to allow this amendment to even be considered, the majority has made it clear they are more interested in scoring political points than finding solutions to the challenges people face accessing affordable health care,” Rep. Joyce said on Wednesday.

Rep. Joyce introduced the amendment with U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) to the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019, H.R. 986, which the full House approved on May 9, 230-183.

The Joyce-Gonzalez amendment proposed this week mirrored the Continuing Coverage for Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019, H.R. 383, which Rep. Joyce sponsored on Jan. 9 with Rep. Gonzalez as an original cosponsor.

H.R. 383 would separate the five clauses protecting people with preexisting conditions from the Affordable Care Act in the case that the larger law is ruled unconstitutional or invalid by the courts, said Rep. Joyce.

But Democratic members on the House Rules Committee refused to bring a vote on the corresponding amendment as part of H.R. 986, which currently includes just one sentence in length and contains no actual protections for what Rep. Joyce called a vulnerable population.

“Maneuvers like this perpetuate the endless, partisan messaging war that does nothing to fix the current instability of our healthcare system,” said Rep. Joyce. “This blue team versus red team mentality is preventing us from solving our nation’s problems and the American people are paying the price.”