Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh sued the Trump administration over efforts he says are intended to undo the ACA.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Maryland, asks that the ACA be declared constitutional and enforceable and that the federal government be stopped from taking actions to wreck the health law.
Eliminating the ACA, the lawsuit states, "would cause immediate and long-term harm to Maryland."
"In fiscal year 2017 alone, Maryland received more than $2.77 billion in federal funds as part of its budget to provide health coverage to its residents because of the Affordable Care Act," it reads. "Additionally, Maryland received approximately $65 million from the law's prevention and public health fund between fiscal years 2012 and 2016.
"Elimination of these funds would cause immediate and severe curtailment of essential public health activities and would restrict the ability of Maryland to provide a more efficient healthcare insurance market to its residents."
Maryland filed the lawsuit Sept. 13 after oral arguments began for a lawsuit that seeks to undo the ACA. Twenty states filed that lawsuit against the federal government Feb. 26 in the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas. The suit — led by Texas and Wisconsin — claims that the ACA became unconstitutional when President Donald Trump signed the tax law that repealed the ACA's individual mandate penalty.
HHS, a defendant in Maryland's lawsuit, declined to comment, saying, "As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation."
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