Miami, Fl – Today, DNC Chair Tom Perez met with Florida health care leaders to discuss the contrast between Trump’s health care agenda that jeopardizes coverage protections for millions of Floridians with preexisting conditions particularly in the Latino community (which had the largest drop of uninsured people under the Affordable Care Act), and Democrats who are working to lower costs and expand access to care. Chair Perez was joined by Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo, Alianza for Progress Director of Communications Adriana Rivera, Borinquen Medical Center President and CEO Paul Velez, state Representative Cindy Polo (HD-103), President of SEIU Local 1991 Martha Baker, and Latino health care stakeholders.

Additionally, the Florida Democratic Party launched a Latinos Against Trump! petition today in advance of Vice President Pence’s visit to Kissimmee next week.

The contrast on the issue of health care couldn’t be clearer: Democrats are making health care more affordable for working families, most recently through the passage of HR 3, which allows the government to directly negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients, while Trump’s broken promises are spiking costs and jeopardizing coverage. Trump promised Floridians: “We’re going to have great health care. By the way, for a fraction of the price. Much less expensive.” But Trump’s latest efforts to overturn the ACA could jeopardize health care coverage for over 1.5 million Floridians and protections for those with preexisting conditions would cease to exist. According to recently released Census Bureau data, Florida ranked fourth among states with the highest uninsured rates in 2018 — Florida’s Medicaid program could also cover an additional 884,000 people if it expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, praised the event and thanked DNC Chair Tom Perez for starting his national health care tour in Miami:

“While Democrats worked to lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand access to health care, Donald Trump has pursued ways to toss out the Affordable Care Act and put the health care of millions at risk. Chair Tom Perez knows how high the stakes are for American families that could lose their health insurance if Donald Trump succeeds in destroying the Affordable Care Act. Hispanics especially have the most to lose — they experienced the largest gains in health coverage since the passage of the ACA. Trump’s attempts to roll back the ACA imperils the gains Hispanics have made on health care.”

DNC Chair Tom Perez spoke about the importance of health care to Floridians: 

“If you don’t have health care security, you don’t have economic security. And as we head into this election cycle — we have 299 days until the most important election of our lifetime — we’re going to be talking about health care every single day because it is the most important issue for so many people right here in Florida and across this country.”

Watch the entire roundtable here. 

Related:

Miami Herald: DNC chair kicks off ‘battleground’ tour with Latino-focused healthcare talk in Miami

Axios: DNC chair to hit Trump on health care in battleground states tour