FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2020
Contact: Ally Livingston, alivingston@jeanneshaheen.org

At today’s debate, Republican U.S. Senate candidate “Colorado Corky” Messner misled voters on his health care record and Jeanne Shaheen’s record of fighting for the more than half a million Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions.

FACT: Shaheen is leading efforts to expand and protect access to quality health care while reducing premium and deductible costs, lowering the cost of prescriptions, and ending surprise medical bills. 

• Shaheen has introduced a health care affordability package that will improve upon the ACA by lowering premiums, reducing deductibles and driving down out-of-pocket costs.

• Shaheen has been a leader in the fight to reduce prescription drug costs, working to get cheaper generic drugs to market faster, fighting to allow for Medicare to negotiate for lower drug costs, pushing legislation to allow for the re-importation of cheaper drugs from Canada and introducing legislation to stop taxpayer subsidies for pharmaceutical companies’ advertising.

• Shaheen has stood up to the Wall Street firms that are hurting patients with exorbitant surprise medical bills, pushing for bipartisan legislation to stop them.

Messner supports Trump’s efforts to dismantle the ACA, including his dangerous lawsuit to repeal the health care law, which would lead to higher costs for everyone.

• FACT: Messner has wholeheartedly endorsed Trump’s efforts to gut the ACA [Nashua Tele-town hall, 3/31/20, Youtube].

• FACT: Messner said that pre-existing conditions don’t exist to justify his efforts to repeal the ACA and its protections for 572,000 Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions. [Mount Washington Valley Economic Council, 10/8,20, Youtube]

• FACT: Messner opposes bipartisan efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug costs. [Keene Sentinel, 12/12/19]

If Messner succeeds in repealing the ACA:

• 105,000 Granite Staters, including 57,000 on Medicaid Expansion, would immediately be kicked off their health care [Center for American Progress, Kaiser Family Foundation].

• 572,000 New Hampshire residents with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, asthma, and cancer would lose health care protections in the ACA that stop insurance companies from discriminating against them and depriving them care. [Center for American Progress].

• It would gut addiction treatment across NH, repealing the ACA’s essential health benefit protections for substance use disorder and kicking thousands of Granite Staters who depend on Medicaid expansion for treatment.

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