Beshear joins 15 other Democratic attorneys general in seeking to block lawsuit aimed at striking down Affordable Care Act

Attorney General Andy Beshear has joined with 15 of his Democratic counterparts in other states seeking to intervene a lawsuit aimed at striking down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The suit, filed in a Texas federal court by 18 attorneys general and two governors, claims that the 2010 law is unconstitutional because last year Congress eliminated the law's penalty for failing to purchase health insurance, known as the individual mandate.

The would-be interveners argue that a successful suit "would devastate the nation’s health care system, causing millions of people to lose access to quality, affordable insurance and cost the intervening states billions of dollars in federal funding," said a press release from Beshear's office.

Beshear said Kentucky would lose $49.7 billion in federal funding for its Medicaid expansion, which covers 493,000 people, and subsidies for the 90,000 people who bought Obamacare insurance plans, through 2028.

“Hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians are at risk of losing their health care coverage, many of whom have coverage for the first time,” he said in the release.

All the attorneys general who filed the suit are Republicans. Beshear is joined by other Democratic attorneys general in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. Beshear's release did not note any party affiliations.