WASHINGTON -- More than 90,000 New Jersey residents with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or diabetes could be unable to buy health insurance under policies being pursued by President Donald Trump, according to a report released Thursday.

Such protections would be lost if federal courts overturn the Affordable Care Act, as the Trump administration has urged, the U.S. House Oversight Committee Democratic staff said in the study.

In all, as many as 352,000 New Jersey residents who buy coverage through the ACA's marketplaces no longer would be guaranteed coverage or could face excessive premium increases as administration's actions would remove those protections in the current health care law.

Most of them, 225,000 individuals, currently have pre-existing health conditions and could lose coverage or face unaffordable premiums. As many 94,000 may not be able to find any insurance coverage at all.

The report gave Democrats another opportunity to focus on health care, which voters called the top issue in a midterm election seen as a referendum on Trump, a Republican.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who is in the final week of a tough campaign against Republican challenger Bob Hugin, highlighted the report today at a news conference with other top Democrats in New Brunsiwck.

"Donald Trump and Republicans running for office here in New Jersey think they can pull one over on the American people , claiming they want to protect patients with pre-existing conditions at the very same time they're trying to overturn those protections," said Menendez, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Finance Committee that oversees health issues.

Menendez says Trump is hurting health care and Republicans in Congress have been “complicit” in this. pic.twitter.com/cp9h5xQZdZ — Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) November 1, 2018

The report was released on the first day Americans could sign up for health insurance on the ACA exchanges.

"We can't allow this president or his complicit counterparts in the House and Senate to drag us back to a time when kids born with serious health concerns could be denied coverage altogether and just being a woman could mean higher costs," said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist., a member of the oversight panel.

"Rather than put more people at risk, we should work together to put every American in reach of affordable, accessible health care," she said.

Trump and congressional Republicans unsuccessfully sought to repeal the health care law, an action that would have left as many as 32 million more Americans without insurance.

Since then, the president has taken several steps administratively to weaken the law and GOP lawmakers voted to eliminate the requirement that all Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty.

"It is time for the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to stop trying to sabotage the American people's health care," said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee that also has jurisdiction over health care.

"Rather than allowing insurance companies to increase costs for people with pre-existing conditions and discriminate against the elderly, we should be working together to improve access and lower costs for high quality health care," said Pallone, who joined Menendez, Watson Coleman and Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist., at the news conference in New Brunswick.

Added Payne: "New Jerseyans deserve protection, not discrimination, with health care."

The popularity of the ACA, including its coverage for pre-existing conditions, has caused Trump to falsely claim that the Republicans who tried to do away with the protections really want to keep them in place while the Democrats who support such coverage really want to end it.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact gave Trump's claim its highest rating for falsehoods.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.