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Senate Debate

TONIGHT: Health Care Will Take Center Stage In Indiana Senate Debate

Washington DC – Tonight, health care champion Senator Joe Donnelly will debate Mike Braun, a pro-repeal and sabotage Republican who has been concealing his true record from voters in recent weeks. Ahead of the debate, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement:

“Tonight’s debate will put on full display what many Hoosiers already are coming to know: just like Mike Braun’s skimpy health insurance for his employees made health care too expensive for too many, Mike Braun has no plan at all for protecting health care, including for those with pre-existing conditions, or making health care more affordable. Like many Republicans this cycle, Mike Braun seems to think he can skate to victory by lying to voters, but his lies will backfire just like his numerous calls to ‘fully repeal’ the Affordable Care Act and its protections for pre-existing conditions have. The truth is simple: Mike Braun would be another vote to roll back health care for tens of millions Americans if elected to the Senate.”

 

Additional Background:

 

BRAUN’S BEEN LYING TO VOTERS ABOUT HEALTH CARE

Braun Said He Supports A Plan To “Cover Pre-Existing Conditions, No Cap On Coverage, And Affordable.”  “In a phone call this week,  Braun says if he wins, he will support ACA repeal efforts, but preserve some of the most popular parts of the plan in a replacement. ‘The key part of it has to be: cover pre-existing conditions, no cap on coverage, and affordable,’ says Braun.” [WFYI, 10/25/18]

 

IN REALITY, BRAUN HAS PLEDGED TO “REPEAL AND REPLACE EVERY WORD” OF ACA, INCLUDING PROTECTIONS FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS

Braun, June 2018: I Will “Fully Repeal” Obamacare. “In the Senate, I will use my business experience and work with President Trump to fully repeal Obamacare and implement free-market solutions that will provide better healthcare for Hoosiers.” [City-County Observer, 7/26/18]

  • On the subject of the ACA, his website reads, “There is no repairing this broken law; the only option is to repeal and replace every word and regulation.” [Braun For Indiana, Accessed 8/14/18]

 

Mike Braun Supports The Trump-GOP Lawsuit That Would Gut the ACA Entirey, Including Pre-existing Conditions Protections:  “Sure, Anything That’s Going To Actually Get Rid Of It, Yes.” “‘Sure, anything that’s going to actually get rid of it, yes,’ said Indiana GOP Senate nominee Mike Braun of the GOP lawsuit to gut the law in an interview in Mishawaka.” [Politico, 8/17/18]. If this lawsuit is successful, millions of Hoosiers stand to lose, including:

  • 2,745,700 Hoosiers Living With A Pre-Existing Condition. About one in two Hoosiers, 50 percent, lives with a pre-existing condition. [CAP, 4/5/17]

 

  • 1,382,000 Indiana Women And Girls With A Pre-Existing Condition. Approximately 1,382,000 women and girls in Indiana live with a pre-existing condition. [CAP & National Partnership For Women and Families, June 2018]

 

  • 377,100 Indiana Children With A Pre-Existing Condition. Roughly 377,000 Hoosiers below age 18 live with a pre-existing condition. [CAP, 4/5/17]

 

  • 643,800 Older Hoosiers Living With A Pre-Existing Condition. 643,800 Indiana adults between the ages of 55 and 64 live with at least one pre-existing condition, meaning attacks on these protections significantly threaten Hoosiers approaching Medicare age. [CAP, 4/5/17]

 

 

TONIGHT: Pre-Existing Conditions Enemy Josh Hawley to Debate Health Care Champion Claire McCaskill

Washington DC – Ahead of tonight’s debate between Senator Claire McCaskill and Attorney General Josh Hawley, a health care repeal-and-sabotage crusader who is suing to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, issue the following statement:

 

“Tonight, the world will have another opportunity to see Josh Hawley for what he truly is: a politician who will say one thing to get elected, while doing the opposite. Hawley’s health care hypocrisy — calling yourself a protector of people with pre-existing conditions while going to Court to end the law that guarantees coverage without discrimination against them — has made him the face of the GOP’s desperate ‘Operation: Obfuscation’ on health care. Make no mistake: Hawley is only working to distort his record on health care because he knows it is contrary to what Missouri voters want. What they do want is a Senator like Claire McCaskill who will stand up for their health care, protect people with pre-existing conditions and fight to  lower the high cost of prescription drugs”

 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

 

Despite Hawley campaigned on Dismantle The ACA And Now Is A Party In A Lawsuit To Eliminate Protections For Pre-existing conditions

 

Hawley Ran For Attorney General “On A Platform Largely Based On His Role In A Lawsuit Against The Affordable Care Act.” “Hawley, who had no previous political experience, ran on a platform largely based on his role in a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a private attorney, he worked with more than a dozen lawyers on a case in which Hobby Lobby and other businesses challenged a federal requirement to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives for employees.” [St. Louis Post Dispatch, 3/17/17]

 

Hawley: “I’ve Fought Obamacare In The Supreme Court Of The United States.” “I’ve fought Obamacare in the Supreme Court of the United States—and won. As Attorney General, I will keep up the fight until Missourians get real control over their healthcare and Missouri job creators are free to get our state back to work.” [Hawley For Attorney General, Archived 6/23/17]  

 

What would full repeal of the Affordable Care Act eliminate?

  • Protections for 2,495,400 Missourians with pre-existing conditions, if they buy coverage on their own
  • Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
  • Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
  • Ban on annual and lifetime limits
  • Ban on insurance discrimination against women
  • Limit on out-of-pocket costs
  • Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people nationally

Hawley Said Replacing The ACA Would Be “A Top Priority” For Him In The Senate. [Politico, 8/17/18]

 

Hawley Falsely Claimed That The ACA Resulted In “Millions Of Americans” Losing Their Health Insurance. [Josh Hawley Op-Ed, Springfield News-Leader, 8/20/18]

 

 

 

HOLD THE PHONE: Ted Cruz Shut Down the Government to Block the Health Care Law Including Protections for People with Pre-existing Conditions

SHOT: During last night’s Senate debate, Senator Ted Cruz said, “On Obamacare, I want to repeal Obamacare, reduce premiums, protect pre-existing conditions, and expand access.”

 

CHASER: Ted Cruz — one of the Senate’s biggest cheerleaders for health care repeal — lied to Texans last night. From his repeated votes to repeal pre-existing conditions protections, to his vocal support for the Trump-GOP lawsuit to overturn protections for people with pre-existing conditions overnight, to leading the Republican effort to shut down the government over implementation of the Affordable Care Act — which guarantees protections for people with pre-existing conditions — to his votes to cut billions from Medicare and Medicaid, Ted Cruz has worked to rip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions every chance he’s gotten.

NEW POLL: Health Care Is A Top Issue For Wisconsinites in Senate Race Helping Push Baldwin to 10 Point Lead over Vukmir, 52-42

Washington, DC – A new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP) for Protect Our Care shows health care is a top issue for voters and that Wisconsinites trust health care champion Senator Tammy Baldwin and Democrats more with their health care than Leah Vukmir and Republicans. This poll comes on the heels of Senator Baldwin and Leah Vukmir’s second debate in Wausau, Wisconsin.  Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement in response to the poll findings:

 

“For Leah Vukmir, the jig is up. Leah Vukmir’s extreme anti-health care positions have done absolutely nothing to help people with pre-existing conditions in Wisconsin — and worse, in fact, it’s hurt women, children and working families. That’s why Wisconsinites know she can’t be trusted on health care and why they prefer Senator Baldwin both on the issue of health care and in their voting preference this fall.”

 

Key Findings from the Protect Our Care-Public Policy Polling  survey of Wisconsin Voters:

  • Forty-seven percent of voters say health care is very important when deciding who to vote for in the US Senate election
  • Sixty-three percent of voters say want to keep what works and fix what doesn’t in the health care law
  • Forty-nine percent of voters have a major concern with Leah Vukmir’s opposition to Medicaid expansion
  • Fifty-three percent of voters oppose Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act
  • Fifty-three percent of voters trust Senator Tammy Baldwin more on the issue of health care
  • Sixty-three percent of voters oppose the Trump’s Administration’s lawsuit strike down the health care law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions
  • In a head to head matchup, Senator Baldwin enjoys a commanding 10 point lead over Vukmir, 52-42.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 816 Wisconsin voters on October 10-11, 2018.  The margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.4%. This poll was conducted using automated telephone interviews on behalf of Protect Our Care.

 

What would full repeal of the Affordable Care Act mean for Wisconsin?

  • Protections for 2.4 million Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions, if they buy coverage on their own
  • Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
  • Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
  • Ban on annual and lifetime limits
  • Ban on insurance discrimination against women
  • Limit on out-of-pocket costs

 

Vukmir Supports “Obamacare’s Full Repeal.” “Vukmir reaffirmed her stance against Obamacare. Mattias Gugel, a Vukmir spokesman, said: ‘As a nurse, Leah wants to ensure all people have access to quality health care. Here in Wisconsin — that’s exactly what we had for people with pre-existing conditions before Obamacare was forced on us. Leah has long supported Obamacare’s full repeal and free-market solutions that cover people with pre-existing conditions.’” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/9/18]

 

  • Just what are the “free-market solutions” that existed before the Affordable Care Act that Vukmir says she supports? Well, before the Affordable Care Act became law, health coverage on the nongroup market was described as the “wild wild West” of health insurance marketplaces. That was because consumers were at the mercy of insurance companies that could deny coverage, drop coverage, or charge people more based on their health status, gender and age. That was a time when a 60-year-old could be charged $3,854 more annually in premiums.

Vukmir Supported Scott Walker’s Plan To Convert All Health Care Programs To Block Grants: “A Successful Repeal Of Obamacare Begins With The Federal Government Handing Over The Reins To The States.” “State Sen. Leah Vukmir, R–Brookfield, Tuesday endorsed Gov. Scott Walker’s request of the White House and Congress to send states block grants, giving them full responsibility for health care programs. ‘Healthcare is very personal,’ said Vukmir, chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee. ‘That’s why those closest to our constituents, not Washington bureaucrats, should be responsible for tailoring our programs to fit Wisconsin’s needs. A successful repeal of Obamacare begins with the federal government handing over the reins to the states.’” [State Senator Leah Vukmir Press Release, 8/22/17]

 

  • Converting health care programs to block grants was the core of what the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill would have done. Multiple independent analyses agreed that the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill would have cut federal funding to states including a $29 billion cut over two decades to Wisconsin.

 

Though Leah Vukmir claims she supports protections for people with pre-existing conditions, saying “patients with pre-existing conditions should be covered,” she has turned her back on Wisconsinites at every opportunity to do so.

 

  • Vukmir refuses to stand against a lawsuit designed to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions. This summer, the Trump Administration refused to defend against a lawsuit brought by twenty conservative states aimed at overturning the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Leah Vukmir refuses to speak against this lawsuit, instead calling it a “necessary step.”

 

 

 

  • Vukmir refuses to take action at the state level against the Trump administration’s junk plan and association plan rules that let insurance companies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. This summer, the Trump Administration finalized a junk plan rule and an association plan rule that allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Experts warn that these moves will only increase the cost of comprehensive care, ultimately making it even harder for people with pre-existing conditions to get the care they need. Twenty-one states have taken or are taking action to limit the harmful effects of these junk plans, but Vukmir refuses to do the same for Wisconsin.

 

 

 

  • Vukmir supports Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. As cases to overturn the Affordable Care Act make their way through the courts, Leah Vukmir still has not come out against Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the court. Instead, she has voiced support for Trump’s nominee who could decide cases that would strip protections from people with pre-existing conditions. Kavanaugh has previously criticized Chief Justice Roberts’ decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.