INDIANAPOLIS – IDP Chairman John Zody and Terre Haute Democrats called out Rep. Braun and the Indiana GOP at a press conference yesterday for repeatedly attempting to destroy pre-existing conditions protections for Hoosiers, multiple news outlets reported.
Reports from the Terre Haute Tribune-Star and WTWO-TV
From the Terre Haute Tribune-Star: Democrats blast Braun over health care
Hoosier Democrats are attacking Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun over health care.
“Time and again,” state Democrat Chairman John Zody said Thursday in Terre Haute, “Braun has supported every major effort to destroy health care protection for Americans with pre-existing conditions.”
Zody said Braun backs an ongoing lawsuit spearheaded by state Attorney General Curtis Hill, 20 other GOP attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice that would “strip away health care from millions of Americans.”
…Braun is “hypocritical,” Zody said, referring to him as “Rep. Braun” for his three-year stint in the Indiana General Assembly that ended in November 2017.
“Rep. Braun knows his party’s attempts to strip these protections are unpopular so he pretends he supports these protections,” Zody said. “But instead of standing up to Hoosiers, he can’t point to a single plan he supports that would actually keep these protections in place.”
Citing American Public Health Association data showing Indiana 49th in the nation in public health funding, 38th District state Senate candidate Chris Gambill said, “That tells you that this is a state that needs insurance provided.”
…Terre Haute resident Yvonne Creekbaum, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, joined with Zody to tell of losing her health insurance six years ago and being denied coverage for arthritis when she was once again covered.
“My condition costs me $7,000 on one drug a month,” Creekbaum. “I have numerous other drugs that I have to take in order to keep my body healthy.”
Creekbaum said she’s frightened by a future without health coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Donnelly has consistently opposed proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has written bipartisan legislation that would have stabilized the insurance markets, Zody said.
From WTWO-TV [WATCH]: Democrats Call Out Braun, Republicans
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Local Democrats held a press conference on Thursday to discuss one of these needs, a pressing one in the state of Indiana.
The Hoosier state ranks poorly in several health care categories, making the subject of health insurance a hot button topic this election season.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody, along with State Senate 38th District Candidate Chris Gambill and Terre Haute resident Yvonne Creekbaum, spoke today about how the firsthand effects of limiting or even eliminating health insurance options for Hoosiers with pre-existing conditions.
…“What are we hearing from the doors? They want the Affordable Care Act protected, Senator Donnelly has shown that he’ll protect it, and that’s what we need to make sure of is that we have more folks like Senator Donnelly in Washington DC so that the families of this community can continue to have health insurance,” Gambill said.
IDP says Representative Braun supported 2017 bills in the House and the Senate that would have raised health care costs for the average Hoosier by $1000 every year.
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