FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018
Statement attributable to:
John Cullen, MD
President
American Academy of Family Physicians
“Friday’s ruling in the Texas v. Azar lawsuit will potentially have a profoundly negative impact on our patients. The American Academy of Family Physicians strongly disagrees with legal decisions and legislation that limit our patients’ access to health care. If this decision stands, millions of patients are at serious risk of losing the protection of affordable, meaningful health insurance.
“Meaningful, affordable health insurance is paramount for all Americans, particularly the more than 52 million people who have pre-existing conditions such as cancer, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening or serious chronic diseases.
“Family physicians and primary medical care are the foundation of our health care system. Every day, family physicians work to prevent complications of our patients’ pre-existing or chronic illnesses. That’s why we support provisions in the current law that require insurance plans to cover pre-existing conditions. It’s also why we support the current law’s provisions that establish 10 essential benefits—such as lab tests, procedures and prescriptions—which all patients need to prevent health problems and to monitor or treat pre-existing health conditions.
“We will be steadfast in our support of these protections as we work with Congress to develop legislation that ensures our patients have insurance coverage for both pre-existing conditions and the medical care necessary to prevent relapse and complications.”
Editor's Note: To arrange an interview with Dr. Cullen, contact Leslie Champlin, (800) 274-2237, Ext. 6252, or lchampli@aafp.org.
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About the American Academy of Family Physicians
The AAFP is the largest national association of family physicians, representing 128,300 physicians and medical students. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on impactful care for people of all ages, races and genders across all medical conditions. The AAFP supports every stage of a family physician's career and provides evidence-based resources, advocacy and community to empower family medicine. To learn more, visit aafp.org. For information about health care, medical conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s patient education website, familydoctor.org.