FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2020
Contact: Ally Livingston, alivingston@jeanneshaheen.org

ICYMI — Republican U.S. Senate candidate “Colorado Corky” Messner is vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and encouraging insurance companies to sell “scantier insurance to people,” reports the Union Leader. Messner “is adamant that government should not be involved in the health insurance market, not even as a facilitator of the exchanges where individuals can shop for insurance,” but 105,000 Granite Staters rely on the ACA exchange to find lower-cost coverage, and would be kicked off their insurance without the ACA.

Messner’s health care plan would raise health care costs for everyone, and allow insurance companies to sell junk plans to the people of New Hampshire which would open the door for providers to take advantage of vulnerable patients through more expensive care, inadequate coverage and abuses of the health care system. If Messner had his way and the ACA was repealed, 105,000 Granite Staters, including 57,000 on Medicaid Expansion, would be kicked off their health care and pre-existing conditions protections for 572,000 Granite Staters could be ended. Repeal would also mean a steep decline in access to mental health care, disability services and substance use disorder treatment for those most vulnerable.

“Senator Shaheen has led efforts in the Senate to lower health care costs and expand access, sponsoring and writing common-sense legislation to lower prescription drug prices by getting cheaper generics to market and stopping big drug companies from collecting tax breaks for their TV advertising,” said Shaheen Campaign spokesman Josh Marcus-Blank. “Her opponent, ‘Colorado Corky’ Messner, supports Trump’s efforts to overturn the ACA and would gut protections for more than half a million Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions.”

Union Leader: Health insurance and Obamacare questions shaping election

With the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this month, and a case that could undo the Affordable Care Act coming before the Supreme Court in November, the issue of health insurance has taken on fresh urgency for political campaigns as well as people affected by the 2010 law sometimes called Obamacare.

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Right now, Hodder said, the Affordable Care Act is what we have to make sure people who don’t get insurance from employers and don’t qualify for programs like Medicare and Medicaid are able to buy health insurance.

If the law is about to be struck down, Hodder said, “We’d better figure out what our alternatives are. Because health care is too expensive for people right now.”

But while Democrats argue that the protections for pre-existing conditions that are part of the Affordable Care Act cannot exist without other parts of the law, Republicans say they want to find another way to offer coverage to everyone.

Corky Messner, the Republican running against U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen as she seeks a third term, is adamant that government should not be involved in the health insurance market, not even as a facilitator of the “exchanges” where individuals can shop for insurance.

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Democrats, including Shaheen and Rep. Chris Pappas, who is seeking a second term in the First Congressional District, say they want to maintain the Affordable Care Act. They are focusing their messages on the thousands of people who have health insurance as a result of the law, while agreeing that insurance premiums are unaffordable for many.

“This election is about protecting the health care coverage that keeps millions of Americans safe and healthy,” Shaheen said in a statement earlier this month.

She said repealing the Affordable Care Act before there is a replacement would mean up to 100,000 New Hampshire residents would lose their health insurance, including the nearly 70,000 low-income people who get insurance through the Medicaid expansion, according to data from the state insurance department.

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