Kamala Harris: “If you have a pre-existing condition [...] they’re coming for you.”
At last night’s vice presidential debate, Mike Pence presented Maine people with more of the same lies and deflections about the Trump administration’s record on health care, claiming that “Obamacare was a disaster” but refusing to answer how they would protect the more than 130 million people with pre-existing conditions if the Affordable Care Act is struck down by the Supreme Court.
Pence claimed that he and Trump “have a plan to improve health care and protect pre-existing conditions for every American,” but when pressed to give details, he ignored the question. Pence’s deflection was the latest in a long line of deceptions from team Trump to hide the fact that there is no plan. Instead of explaining why the administration is attempting to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, which would end protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, a cancer history, or a positive COVID-19 case, as well as gutting health care for nearly 100,000 Mainers, the Vice President tried to get away with ignoring the question.
Furthermore, when asked to defend the administration’s failed pandemic response, Pence claimed Trump “has put the health of America first,” even though the president knew how deadly the virus was but still publicly downplayed the threat. Meanwhile, the public health crisis has claimed the lives of more than 210,000 Americans and counting since Trump installed Pence as head of the White House coronavirus task force. Under Pence’s leadership, the Trump administration still doesn’t have a robust national plan for containing the coronavirus or a proposal to help the struggling Maine families suffering from Trump’s recession.
“When it comes to the failed pandemic response that Pence was in charge of and Trump’s disastrous attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act, Vice President Pence showed he’s not loyal to the American people or the truth––he’s just loyal to Donald Trump,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “You didn’t hear Pence lay out a plan to protect the tens of thousands of Mainers whose health care the administration is trying to dismantle in the middle of a pandemic, and there’s a simple reason why: they don’t have one.”
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