Attorney General Andy Beshear is taking legal action on behalf of 1.3 million Kentuckians who may lose health care after a federal judge determined the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional last week.

The Kentucky Democrat and 2019 governor candidate announced Monday that he would join 15 other attorneys general across the country to oppose a Texas judge's ruling last week against the Affordable Care Act, the health care law passed by former President Barack Obama.

“With Kentuckians facing so many needs, we cannot allow a Texas court to strip coverage away from our Kentucky families," Beshear said in a statement.

Beshear said "lives hang in the balance" and that he plans to file a legal challenge as soon as Monday afternoon.

"For so many families it is a matter of life and death," Beshear said during a press conference. "If Kentuckians understand what is at stake, then they'll be supportive of us overturning this ruling."

When asked about whether or not his announcement to file litigation was connected to his gubernatorial campaign, Beshear said it went beyond politics and that he had been fighting the attacks on the Affordable Care Act before he announced his candidacy in July.

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Beshear has been fighting federal challenges to the health care law over the last year alongside 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.

“This ruling would immediately eliminate coverage for 500,000 Kentuckians on expanded Medicaid, and on the private insurance side would return Kentucky to a time when insurance companies could simply refuse coverage for Kentuckians based on pre-existing conditions, age and even gender,” Beshear said in a statement.

The attorney general listed the loss of mandatory coverage for pre-existing conditions, expanded Medicaid and children being able to stay on a parent's insurance until age 26 among his top concerns.

While Beshear has allies in other states, he is outnumbered by some red states seeking to block the Affordable Care Act.

Attorneys general in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Maine and Mississippi, are fighting against the law.

Meanwhile, public support for the Affordable Care Act appears strong.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in September, just before opening arguments in the Texas case, said 75 percent of Americans want to keep the ACA’s provisions that prevent health plans from “denying coverage based on a person’s medical history."

Beshear's announcement comes days after he was delivered a win by overturning Kentucky's pension law. Beshear challenged the method the General Assembly used to pass the bill.

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This is a developing story; please check back for updates.

Thomas Novelly: tnovelly@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4465, or @tomnovelly. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tomn.