In last night’s debate, Senator Susan Collins attacked Sara Gideon’s health care plan and claimed that “based on a study” she’s read, a public option for health insurance would threaten Maine’s rural hospitals. But what Collins doesn’t want Mainers to know is that the study she’s citing was "funded by several of the most influential lobbying groups" for pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

In reality, it’s Senator Collins herself who poses the biggest threat to Maine’s rural hospitals. Medicaid expansion has allowed more than 60,000 Mainers to gain access to health care coverage and has been a financial lifeline to health care providers across the state, but thanks to Senator Collins’ votes for the GOP tax bill, Medicaid expansion could be wiped out if the Supreme Court rules in favor of her party in their lawsuit to eliminate the Affordable Care Act.

Collins also made the preposterous claim that she doesn’t “know anyone in the Senate” who doesn’t want to preserve protections for people with preexisting conditions while her party is LITERALLY ABOUT TO ARGUE BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT that the entire ACA, including its protections for people with preexisting conditions, should be struck down.

“Senator Collins voted to put the Affordable Care Act at risk, has no plan to replace it, and is relying on an industry-funded junk study to attack her opponent’s plan,” said Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts. “Mainers need a champion for our health care in the Senate — but Senator Collins has proven that she’ll sell out our care to the highest bidder.”

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