STILLWATER, Minn. — Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her operating mate is making well being care a front-burner situation within the ultimate dash to the November presidential election.
Walz, a 60-year-old former highschool instructor and soccer coach, has a document of supporting left-leaning well being care initiatives throughout his two phrases as governor and whereas serving within the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He additionally leads a state central to the well being care business: Minnesota is house each to the nation’s largest well being insurer, UnitedHealth Group, and certainly one of its most prestigious hospital programs, the Mayo Clinic.
Republicans have seized on his document to painting the Harris-Walz ticket as excessive on well being care, whereas Democrats say Walz’s efforts to decrease drug prices and protect abortion entry are mainstream positions that attraction to swing voters. Either approach, his choice thrusts well being care heart stage as an election situation, underscoring the primacy of the nation’s battle over abortion entry in addition to voters’ deep angst over spiraling well being care prices.
Many of Walz’s stances dovetail with these of Harris.
He has fought for abortion entry, signing laws to codify abortion rights within the state, and in March toured a Planned Parenthood clinic with the vice chairman.
He supported congressional laws empowering the federal authorities to barter drug costs in Medicare, a medical insurance program for seniors and the disabled. The Biden administration on Aug. 15 launched new, reduced prices for 10 drugs in this system that stem from the negotiations between the federal government and drugmakers. The decrease prices will kick in in 2026.
As governor, Walz signed legislation in 2020 to cap out-of-pocket insulin prices to $35 a month for eligible residents with an pressing want for the treatment. Two years later, President Joe Biden did the identical for all Medicare sufferers.
Early within the covid-19 pandemic, Walz mandated that masks be worn in most indoor public areas. He prolonged an government stay-at-home order in 2020, which led former President Donald Trump to submit “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” on X, the social platform then known as Twitter.
“He has common sense when it comes to issues and policy,” stated Andy Slavitt, a former UnitedHealth government and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “He’s not an ideologue. He’s an independent thinker who cares about people who don’t have resources,” stated Slavitt, who served as a senior adviser to the Biden administration’s covid response workforce.
Walz additionally has championed fertility therapies, sharing his private story of how he and his spouse, Gwen, relied on them to conceive. Because in vitro fertilization is below rising menace by some abortion opponents, regardless of its broad recognition, his firsthand data of fertility challenges is including political muscle.
“Walz has been articulate and passionate about his experience with IVF, and that connects with people on both sides of the aisle,” stated Christoper Sheeron, founder and president of Action for Health, a nationwide nonprofit advocacy group.
Republicans in Minnesota say Walz’s well being care positions will work towards the Democratic ticket. They criticize his 2021 covid vaccination or common testing requirement for state workers, his help of laws codifying abortion rights, his backing of leisure marijuana legalization, and a invoice he signed to develop public well being protection to some immigrants missing authorized residency.
“Under Gov. Walz, we saw one of the most radical, far-left agendas in the country. While Americans are searching for unity, Walz has a record of implementing extreme policies that only divide us further,” the Republican chief of Minnesota’s state Senate, Mark Johnson, stated in an announcement. “He has put our state on a path to government-run health care and championed restrictive health care mandates that limit Minnesotans’ access to life-saving care.”
Minnesotan Tracy Mitchell stated that earlier than Walz’s choice she was leaning towards backing former President Donald Trump in November as a result of she believed he would do extra to decrease her well being care prices.
The announcement cemented her resolution: She’s voting for Trump.
“I have three kids, and health care gets expensive,” Mitchell, 38, of Ham Lake, stated whereas visiting Stillwater, Minnesota, along with her household. She is the director of program operations for a psychological well being care clinic.
“The way he handled covid, and in terms of health care, I think he is too extreme,” she stated.
Still, Democrats specific hope {that a} higher concentrate on well being care will give them a bonus within the election, tapping into voter issues about pocketbook points in swing states.
Forty-eight % of Republicans or adults who lean Republican stated well being care affordability is a really massive downside within the nation, in keeping with a May ballot by the Pew Research Center. Sixty-five % of Democrats or adults who lean Democratic agreed.
The concern tops unlawful immigration, the federal funds deficit, gun violence, and drug habit.
Three in 4 adults stated they’re very or considerably nervous about having the ability to afford sudden medical payments, based on a poll achieved in January and February by KFF, a well being data nonprofit that features KFF Health News.
“Republicans have always suffered because they talk about health care in economic terms,” stated William Pierce, who’s a senior director at APCO Worldwide, a world advisory and advocacy agency, and a former GOP congressional aide. “Democrats talk about it as a personal issue. The selection of Walz gives them a greater opportunity to push it harder.”
Walz’s counterpart on the GOP ticket, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has much less expertise with well being care points. But he has sought to indicate concern about rising prices and boundaries to care.
During a latest go to in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vance stated the federal government should do extra to protect well being care entry in rural America.
In a July 2017 op-ed revealed by The New York Times, effectively earlier than he ran for the Senate as a Republican, Vance expressed help for some provisions of the Affordable Care Act and criticized the GOP push to repeal the regulation as a result of, he stated, the proposal “withdraws its supports for the poor.”
Since becoming a member of Trump’s ticket, Vance has aligned his views with Trump’s on the ACA — a regulation Trump tried and didn’t repeal whereas president.
“The difference is between those defending the ACA and those who would repeal it; the choice of Walz makes that contrast as clear as ever,” stated Anthony Wright, the manager director of Families USA, a nonpartisan group centered on well being care entry and affordability.
Vance has backed letting the federal government negotiate Medicare drug costs — a uncommon level of settlement on well being coverage with Democrats.
Like Trump, he opposes gender-affirming look after transgender minors. But he has taken firmer positions than the previous president on abortion — a vulnerability Democrats have sought to use. Public help of abortion rights has elevated because the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022 and lots of Republican-led states moved to impose strict bans.
Both the Democratic and Republican campaigns are drawing recent scrutiny of their positions on well being care. California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’ tremendous PAC, Californians for Choice, launched an advert this month saying Vance helps a nationwide abortion ban, “stripping away our freedom.”
Like Trump, Vance has lately stated states ought to determine particular abortion insurance policies, however he previously supported outlawing abortion nationwide.
Trump’s marketing campaign, in the meantime, has labeled Walz “Tampon Tim” due to a state law he signed requiring menstrual merchandise to be accessible to “all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12, according to a plan developed by the school district.”
A latest Trump marketing campaign advert known as Walz “too weird. Too radical.”
But Walz’s addition to the ticket has energized Democratic voters with well being care issues equivalent to Angel Palm, 32, a life coach for folks with disabilities who lives in Fridley, Minnesota.
“My son is autistic and has medical costs. It’s so important,” she informed KFF Health News. “I’m so stoked.”
Stephanie Armour:
sarmour@kff.org,
@StephArmour1
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