Madison healthcare advocates gathered before the State Capitol Monday to rally for Vice President Kamala Harris and hold former President Donald Trump accountable for his plans to replace the Affordable Care Act.
University of Wisconsin junior and College Democrats of UW-Madison communications director Whitman Bottari spoke with Dr. Sophie Kramer and Sen. Kelda Roys on the potential impacts of Trump’s plan on American healthcare.
Bottari opened the conference and directed her argument toward students like herself who are deciding who to vote for by emphasizing Trump and Harris’s differing approaches to their plans for the American healthcare system.
“I’m terrified of what a second Donald Trump presidency would mean for me and my access to healthcare,” Bottari said.
Bottari encouraged students to spread the word to their family and friends to register to vote and do all they can to ensure the ACA remains in place.
Kramer provided insight from her healthcare perspective as a practicing physician in Wisconsin for 35 years. 806,000 Wisconsinites have received healthcare coverage since 2014 through the ACA, Kramer said.
Before then, Kramer said she worked with patients who only sought out the healthcare that was absolutely necessary to stay alive. Since the ACA, patients with chronic conditions such as cancer or diabetes have been able to seek preventive measures that can improve their quality of life, Kramer said.
Kramer said she was worried about Trump’s plan to replace ACA.
“He wants to take us backward,” Kramer said. “To a time when patients had to choose between putting food on the table and getting the care they need.”
Conversely, Kramer said, Harris has plans to take the country forward by keeping the ACA in place and improving on it. Harris worked to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers prescription drug prices, including capping the price of insulin at 35 dollars a month for seniors, Kramer said.
Kramer said if Harris takes office she will work to strengthen the ACA and get prescription drug prices even lower.
“This will make a huge difference for my patients and my ability to give the best care possible,” Kramer said.
Roys said that, though Trump has described merely that he has “concepts of a plan” for replacing ACA, Project 2025 suggests plans to terminate the ACA, which threatens the health security of millions of Americans, Roys said.
While Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 — a 900-page policy proposal drafted by members of the Republican party — former Trump administration officials have contributed to the proposals, according to an article by BBC.
The plans laid out in Project 2025 would raise prescription drug prices, and it would let prescription drug companies deny coverage to Americans with preexisting conditions, Roys said.
“I talk with voters who are Republicans, Independents, Democrats and everything in between,” Roys said. “And healthcare is not a partisan issue. Everybody wants healthcare.”
Undecided young voters should consider the benefits of the ACA, particularly the provision allowing individuals to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26, a part of the law that could be at risk under Trump’s healthcare plan, Roys said.
