Charlotte mom testifies before panel weighing Barrett’s nomination to Supreme Court
From a table in her Charlotte living room, Stacy Staggs told a panel of U.S. senators this week why she opposes the nomination of President Donald Trump’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Staggs, 43, had been invited to testify remotely before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, the final day of its hearings on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the high court. The panel is expected to vote on the nomination next week, likely sending it on for confirmation to the full Senate.
“A vote for Judge Barrett is a vote to take away health care,” Staggs told the senators. “And a vote for Judge Barrett is a vote to strike down the law that saved the lives of my daughters.”
Staggs spoke in front a bookshelf lined with pictures of her twin 7-year-old daughters, Emma and Sara, as well as a figurine of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom Barrett would replace.
At just 28 weeks, the twins were born prematurely at what is now Atrium Health. Both continue to have complex medical needs and disabilities, and need around-the-clock care.
An active child, Emma needs a breathing tube; a separate feeding tube was implanted when she was three months old. She requires full-time home nursing.
Sara, who loves nature, has epilepsy as well as developmental disabilities that include a speech developmental delay.
The twins had $1 million in medical bills before their first birthdays, Staggs said. Bills have since risen to $4 million.
The costs have been covered by her husband’s work insurance. Emma also has Medicaid as secondary insurance through the state waiver.
Staggs said the Affordable Care Act has made the help possible. It prevents insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. And it removed the lifetime cap on benefits insurance companies had to pay.
Next month the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a case that challenges the constitutionality of the ACA. Critics say Barrett’s earlier opinions suggest she could oppose it.
“We do not need to rush through the nomination of a Supreme Court justice who’s on the record as hostile to the law that provides our health care protections,” Staggs told the Senate panel.
Staggs is a volunteer leader of Little Lobbyists, a non-profit that advocates on behalf of kids with complex medical needs.
This was not her first time opposing one of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees. In 2018 she spoke at an Atlanta rally against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who is now on the court.
Staggs knows that Barrett is likely to be confirmed as well.
“I hope that my testimony would give people voting in support of her confirmation pause,” she told the Observer. “And at least prevent them from saying they didn’t know what’s at stake.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
