HEALTHCARE – STILL NUMBER ONE!
By Joanna Williams
Healthcare still ranks as the #1 issue for voters.
Why? First, the obvious: healthcare is a matter of life and death. Second: the need to protect coverage of pre-existing conditions. Third: medical expense including spiraling drug costs (two-thirds of all bankruptcy filings are due to medical bills and related costs).
For all these reasons, people care about health care. Deeply. Personally. Intensely. Given how universal and how important healthcare is to Americans, it’s fair to ask, who is on their side?
What should voters know about the position of Republicans up and down the ballot? The ACA passed the House in 2009 with just one Republican vote. Since that time, Republicans have been wailing about the need to “repeal and replace Obamacare”, while offering nothing to replace it. Instead they have turned to the courts repeatedly to try to have it overturned and may have finally succeeded –a Federal District judge in Texas recently ruled all of Obamacare invalid. While the case is currently under appeal, Democrats have petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case in the current session so that the fate of the ACA would be finalized before the 2020 election.
When push comes to shove, Republicans will always protect the insurance companies at the expense of American families.
What should voters know about the position of Democrats up and down the ballot? We’re the ones who got rid of pre-existing conditions and under the ACA tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans got coverage they could afford. And while the ACA isn’t perfect, Americans can be assured that if Democrats are in control, they will improve on the ACA and tackle exorbitant drug prices as well.
We’ve never had such a clear, unambiguous message to take to voters.