Everyone deserves the health care they need to stay healthy and thrive, yet Republicans continue their pursuit of ripping affordable and accessible health care away from the American people. Rising health care costs are top of mind for many Americans, but in Washington and across the country, Republican legislators and Republican-leaning courts are fighting tooth and nail to raise costs even higher, deny coverage to thousands of people, and slash funding for critical programs.
The Democratic health care agenda – building on the Affordable Care Act by lowering costs, expanding coverage, and addressing health disparities – is overwhelmingly popular with Americans, no matter their political party. No other issue has the power to bring voters together in this way, as polls show time and time again. Democrats continue to fight for the American people by passing and implementing the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the cost of prescription drugs and health insurance and by protecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
However, Republicans’ position on health care is slash, sabotage, and repeal. They want to go backwards and reverse the progress of the ACA and Inflation Reduction Act. They want to raise costs on families by hiking health care premiums and requiring people with pre-existing conditions to pay more, all while boosting profits for drug and insurance companies. These threats disproportionately target all families facing economic stress, people of color, seniors, rural populations, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQI+ community. The consequences of the GOP war on health care are devastating: Medicare will be banned from negotiating, 20 million who rely on Medicaid could lose coverage, seniors could be forced to pay thousands more for their prescription drugs, and the cost of health insurance would skyrocket. The Republican health care plan means families will have a much harder time seeing a doctor and paying the bills when they get sick.
The Republican war on health care is also on full display in the courts and states. Ten states refuse to expand Medicaid and red states are needlessly throwing children and families off the Medicaid rolls as part of the unwinding process. Conservatives are also supporting lawsuits to stop Medicare from negotiating lower prices for seniors, dismantling core ACA requirements for no-cost preventive services, threatening LGBTQI+ health care and reproductive rights, and undermining the entire FDA approval process for vital medications.