Susan Collins: I 'hope' my votes to destroy health care don't actually destroy health care

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is desperately trying to escape her responsibility should federal courts strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would cause millions of families to lose their health care.

On Tuesday, Collins could barely muster any concern for the havoc she played a role in creating, saying that the case “may well end up at the Supreme Court and it’s my hope and belief that the Supreme Court won’t strike the law down.”

More than 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions could lose health care protections if the Trump-backed lawsuit against the ACA is successful. More than a half-million of those people live in Maine — and the best Collins can offer them is “hope.”

While Collins claims to hope for the best, her actions and votes have imperiled millions of families.

Collins voted for the GOP tax scam, a law that did more than enrich Wall Street corporations and leave middle-class families behind. The law also eliminated the ACA’s individual mandate, the part of the law that required everyone to purchase health insurance or face a financial penalty.

After Collins and Republicans in Congress made the tax scam law, a handful of GOP-led states are arguing in federal court that now the entirety of the ACA is unconstitutional.

Trump supports the lawsuit against the ACA, as does the majority of Republicans in Congress. Even though she voted to drastically undermine the ACA, Collins insists she wants the Department of Justice to defend the law rather than try to destroy it.

But Collins’ sabotage did not stop with the tax scam. She was also a rubber-stamp for Trump’s radical Supreme Court justices — both seat-stealer Neil Gorsuch and alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh. If the case makes it to the Supreme Court, the Collins-backed far-right justices would be key votes in determining whether or not millions of Americans keep their health care.

Collins does not regret her votes, even the one putting an alleged sexual predator on the highest court in the land. In fact, she cashed in after the vote, raising almost $2 million mainly from people outside of Maine in the months following her vote.

If the federal courts — and ultimately the Supreme Court — strikes down the ACA, Maine residents will remember that while Collins hoped for the best, she voted to bring about the worst.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.