Mike Pence called the ACA a ‘disaster.’ The real disaster is the Trump administration’s attacks on Nevadans’ health care.
By Dr. Angie Taylor
This week, Donald Trump held a rally in Arizona billed to Nevadans and Mike Pence is dropping in to Reno in a last-ditch effort to distract from their broken promises on health care and failed pandemic response. But Nevadans won’t be fooled by their empty rhetoric, and we won’t be distracted from the truth.
Here’s my truth. I am a proud and blessed breast cancer survivor, so health care is personal to me. I watched as a childhood friend had a more difficult time with her treatment than I did because she lacked access to quality, affordable health care. This should be a thing of the past. But unfortunately, it isn’t. In 2020, even during a global pandemic, healthcare is still a barrier to too many in the state that I love.
Just this past weekend, the White House openly admitted defeat on controlling the pandemic on national television. It’s clear that President Trump and VP Pence’s closing message on the coronavirus is to pretend it doesn’t exist and give up on containing it entirely. But that’s simply not an option for countless Nevada families who have lost their loved ones, and hundreds of thousands of workers who are out of jobs. All across the Silver State, Nevadans are suffering from the consequences of their failure to lead.
For months, Trump has claimed that we are ‘rounding the corner’ on the pandemic, despite the fact that daily COVID-19 cases are surging once again to record highs here in Nevada and across the country. Already, Nevadans have endured over 97,000 coronavirus cases, tragically lost more than 1,700 lives, and experienced one of the highest unemployment rates in the entire country.
Today, as the Vice President arrives in Reno, he must answer to Nevada voters for the Trump administration’s failed leadership. As head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, he oversees the federal response to the pandemic — so he owns this administration’s failed record more than anyone except for his boss in the Oval Office.
At every turn, they have rejected the science, ignored the experts, and endangered public health. Pence’s rally today in Reno flies in the face of his own Task Force’s guidance. That’s no surprise considering that the Trump administration’s mishandling of the pandemic has left the great state of Nevada in a coronavirus “red zone” once again.
While coronavirus cases are rising, Nevada families are struggling to make ends meet with no signs of federal relief from the White House or Senate leadership. Back in May, The House passed a comprehensive coronavirus relief package. For months, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has had a bill sitting on his desk that would get working families the help they need to stay afloat, but he’s taken no action.
Rather than passing that bill, he and President Trump sabotaged relief negotiations and instead spent time jamming a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate just eight days before Election Day — ignoring the voices of millions of Americans, including thousands of Nevadans in both parties, who were already casting their ballots for President.
A week after the election, the Supreme Court will begin hearings to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has ensured health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Nevadans. I know firsthand that this is a matter of life and death. When I see Trump say that he hopes the Court ends the Affordable Care Act or hear Pence refer to this vital law as a “disaster,” it breaks my heart and makes me angry. The real disaster is the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on Nevadans’ health care coverage.
As the future of the ACA hangs in the balance, it’s clear that health care is on the ballot — and that Trump and Pence are playing politics with our lives. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we make our voices heard at the ballot box, and elect new leaders who will protect our care.
While Trump and Pence are waving the white flag on the pandemic, abandoning working families, and waging a campaign to take away our health care, voters in Nevada and across the country are searching for new leadership to help us build back better from their chaos.
As Vice President, Joe Biden helped our economy recover from the Great Recession and fought tooth and nail to pass the ACA. And I trust him to help lead us out of this historic recession once again, while protecting and building on the ACA as President.
That’s why Nevadans like me are going to www.NevadaVotesEarly.com and making a plan to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
In Nevada, there are three ways to vote: You can mail-in your ballot, drop it off at a drop box location, or vote in person during the early voting period or on Election Day. We get to choose how we vote, and with our vote, we can choose to turn the page on this failed leadership and attack on our health care once and for all.
Dr. Angie Taylor, candidate for District E on the Washoe County School Board. Her campaign website is friendsofangie.com.
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