2024 Republicans Want to Block Health Care Coverage, Raise Costs for Millions of Americans
March 23, 2023
On the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, here’s your reminder that 2024 Republicans have tried to deny millions of Americans health care coverage for years – just have a look at their long records.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence campaigned on repealing the Affordable Care Act – which would end the ACA’s protections for those with preexisting conditions, send health care costs skyrocketing for tens of millions of Americans, and more.
NPR: “The very day President Trump was sworn in — Jan. 20, 2017 — he signed an executive order instructing administration officials ‘to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay’ implementing parts of the Affordable Care Act, while Congress got ready to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health law.”
Miami Herald: “‘Mike Pence: ‘The first order of business is to repeal and replace Obamacare’”
As members of Congress, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Kristi Noem, and Mike Pompeo each REPEATEDLY voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Tampa Bay Times: “DeSantis, as a Congressman, voted to repeal the law over and over again.”
Tim Scott: “I will continue to work towards the repeal of the Affordable Care Act”
Mitchell Republic: “Rep. Kristi Noem said working to block the health-care law enacted in 2010 is her proudest moment during her first 100 days in office. “I’d say probably the greatest accomplishment was repealing ‘Obamacare’ on the House floor,” said Noem, R-S.D., when asked during a teleconference with South Dakota journalists Thursday to list her top accomplishment.”
Mike Pompeo: “In fact, my first vote as a congressman was to repeal Obamacare.”
Ron DeSantis refuses to expand Medicaid, denying health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Floridians and making Florida home to one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the country.
NPR: “With the end of the COVID public health emergency, 1.7 million people in Florida will soon lose their Medicaid health coverage. Despite that, officials have no plans to expand Medicaid in Florida.”
HuffPost: “Florida has quite a lot of [uninsured residents] ― nearly 2.6 million as of 2021, according to the most recent U.S. census figures. That’s about 12% of its population, which is well above the national average of 8.6%. It’s also more than all but four other states.”
DeSantis isn’t the only governor to block Medicaid expansion for Americans who need it. Nikki Haley, Kristi Noem, and Glenn Youngkin have all opposed the critical health care program.
NBC News: “Haley opposed efforts to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (South Carolina remains just one of 11 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid to allow more Americans to have health insurance).”
Associated Press: “The Republican-controlled Legislature had declined to expand Medicaid eligibility under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, and Gov. Kristi Noem has opposed the idea.”
New York Times: “Youngkin said it was ‘a sad thing’ that Virginia had expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act”