Wheeling Illinois' Charlie Kirk – founder of nationwide org Turning Points USA offers exclusive commentary to Illinois Review
By Charlie Kirk –
For more than two years, Democrats have been trying to convince Americans that Donald Trump is out to scrap coverage for pre-existing conditions.
It was a lie in 2016. It was a lie in 2017. It’s a lie today.
In fact, President Trump and his Republican allies have done the opposite — they have worked hard to protect this important provision and ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied health insurance.
"I will always fight for and protect patients with pre-existing conditions," the President said recently. "Some people think that's not a Republican thing to do. I don't care. And I'll tell you what, all of the Republicans are coming into that position now. All of them. And we'll do it the right way too."
Earlier this summer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also assured the American people that nobody in the Senate wants to eliminate the provision.
“Everybody I know in the Senate — everybody — is in favor of maintaining coverage for pre-existing conditions,” McConnell told reporters. “There is no difference in opinion about that whatsoever.”
Even when the Republicans were fighting to repeal and replace Obamacare last year, they crafted legislation that would explicitly protect those with pre-existing conditions. Many other GOP healthcare proposals have also kept coverage for pre-existing conditions intact.
Facts, however, have never stood in the way of a good talking point for the Democrats — the ones responsible for passing a healthcare plan that caused premiums to skyrocket and healthcare options to plummet for millions of Americans.
The Democrats claimed falsely during the 2016 election that President Trump was going to end coverage for pre-existing conditions, and Hillary Clinton dutifully repeated the erroneous charge during the presidential debates.
The Democrats repeated the lie in 2017 during the congressional debates over repealing Obamacare, and again in 2018 when the Justice Department declined to defend Obamacare against a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality — in both cases ignoring the Republicans’ repeated assurances that they will continue protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
They then took the absurdity to a new level by predicting that Justice Brett Kavanaugh would end pre-existing conditions coverage if confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Now, the Democrats are telling Americans with pre-existing conditions that they will lose coverage if Republicans win the midterm elections.
According to a recent report published by USA Today, Democrat Senate candidates have partnered with outside organizations to spend $17 million on advertisements “pledging to protect people with pre-existing conditions” from the GOP.
The Democrats are trying to sound like Clint Eastwood, but they’re acting more like Don Quixote.
Repeating the claim ad nauseam through millions and millions of dollars of campaign ads doesn’t make it any more true. It wasn’t true the first five times they said it, and it’s not true now — Republicans are not going to take away your health insurance as the Democrats did in 2010.
Instead, the GOP will seek to deliver an improved, constitutionally-valid healthcare system when the new Congress convenes next year. And you can bet it will cover pre-existing conditions.
Charlie Kirk is the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an advocacy group for young conservatives.
