In virtual press conference, Ossoff slammed Senator Perdue for voting to destroy the ACA three years ago today; McCain famously killed the bill
Perdue’s continued support for ACA repeal and the GOP Supreme Court lawsuit could jeopardize health care for nearly 500,000 Georgians and gut protections for 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions
Atlanta, Ga. — Today in a virtual press conference, investigative journalist, media executive, and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jon Ossoff slammed his opponent, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), for voting three years ago today to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and for his continued attempts to take health care away from millions during a pandemic.
While Perdue voted to repeal the ACA and presided over that Senate vote, Senator John McCain (R-Az.) famously defied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by voting no and dashing GOP efforts to take health care away from millions of Americans ahead of the pandemic.
Perdue continues to support the GOP’s Supreme Court lawsuit seeking to overturn the ACA in its entirety, which could jeopardize health care for nearly 500,000 Georgians and gut protections for women, young people, and the 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions.
Click here to view and download Ossoff’s remarks.
“This is about the stranglehold that the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry have on Congress and have on politicians like my opponent, Senator David Perdue,” Ossoff said in the press conference. “He and his colleagues worked so hard to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they failed, they would have thrown tens of millions off their health insurance, they would have increased premiums by double digit percentages, and they do all that because they’re in the pocket of the insurance and drug companies. It’s that simple.”
“These are industries that wield huge influence in Washington, and they use that influence to buy the allegiance of senators like David Perdue so that they will vote — not in the interests of their constituents who need more affordable health care, and more choice, and more control over their health care — but instead in the interests of the insurance and drug companies, which try to rip off our families. I am certainly glad that now in the midst of this pandemic, we can look back three years ago and see that that effort to rip health care away from American families failed.”
“My opponent, Senator Perdue, still supports — in the middle of this pandemic — a lawsuit to destroy those vital protections in the Affordable Care Act for pre-existing conditions, for women, for young people. And he’s still carrying water for the insurance industry at a time when he needs to be carrying water for his own constituents who face this public health crisis.”
The 2017 bill aimed to destroy the Affordable Care Act without a replacement in place. The Congressional Budget Office estimated if the bill passed, it would have led to 16 million fewer Americans with health care coverage and an increase in premiums of 20 percent.
The bill would have also defunded the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has invested in community and clinical prevention initiatives, public health infrastructure, immunizations and
screenings, and public health workforce and training programs, key funding and programs that have been crucial since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And by defunding the Prevention and Public Health Fund, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have lost key funding as well.
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