PPI Addresses the Future of Health Care in New Report, Advises Dem Candidates not to Take Trump’s Bait
On the cusp of the midterm elections, the Progressive Policy Institute is tackling health care. This week, the progressive think tank issued “Progressives and health care: What comes next?”
In issuing the report, the group argues Democrats have an opportunity to “hold Republicans accountable for undermining the individual health insurance market, putting Americans with preexisting conditions at risk of losing coverage.” The issue of preexisting conditions has become a major point of contention in races across the country, as many Republican candidates struggle to defend their votes for a wholesale repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
The group also had some advice for Democratic candidates following President Trump’s recent op-ed claiming that Democrats have united around a plan to end Medicare, as we know it by embracing ‘Medicare-for-All.’
“In what is clearly an effort to distract from voter anger over GOP attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, scam patients with junk insurance and take away protections for people with preexisting conditions, Trump is using classic fear mongering to rally his base. Democrats shouldn’t take his bait. Instead of getting bogged down trying to explain what ‘Medicare-for-All’ really means, they should focus on what unites them–the moral imperative of universal coverage. If, as seems increasingly likely, the midterm elections go in their favor, there will be ample time to debate what comes next in health care,” said the group in a statement to The Well News.
The report compares and contrasts the leading progressive proposals for achieving universal coverage. Its purpose is to help progressives evaluate the menu of options for universal health care from the standpoints of cost, competition, and the division of responsibility between government and the private sector.
Read the full report here.
