Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Friday he’s counting on voters to see through President Trump’s rhetoric on protections for people with preexisting conditions, arguing Mr. Trump’s policy foibles and hands-off approach to a lawsuit that threatens Obamacare belies his claims of “total support” for measures that shield the sick.
“He’s raising the cost and the people know it. They agree with Democrats,” Mr. Schumer told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show.
Mr. Schumer and other Democrats reacted with outrage after Mr. Trump used his Twitter account to position Republicans as staunch defenders of people who’d suffered from diabetes, asthma or other conditions and faced higher premiums before the Affordable Care Act came along.
The 2010 law forced insurers to charge everyone in a given area the same amount, regardless of health status, yet the influx of sicker enrollees caused premiums to soar, fueling GOP calls for an alternative.
Yet analyses of the GOP’s repeal-and-replace bills in 2017 showed people with preexisting conditions could face skinnier coverage or higher costs, and the effort failed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in recent days said Republicans will take another stab at Obamacare repeal if they gain Senate seats. He also pointed to bipartisan reluctance to deal with entitlement spending as the key driver of rising deficits, rather than GOP tax cuts.
Democrats say those comments undercut Mr. Trump’s insistence he will leave entitlements like Medicare alone and defend the type of protections for sick Americans that were written into Obamacare — and that Republicans should suffer at the ballot box as a result.
“You know my mother used to tell me, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And that’s a game changer, what McConnell did the last three days is a game changer for us,” Mr. Schumer said.
He also accused Mr. Trump of hypocrisy.
The administration has refused to defend Obamacare against a state-driven lawsuit that says Congress’ decision to gut the “individual mandate” to hold insurance means the rest of the law, including its protections for preexisting conditions, should be invalidated.
“They are so scared that they are being hammered on this lawsuit, they say well I’m really for it. If you’re really for it, get off the G-D lawsuit,” Mr. Schumer told MSNBC.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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