On ACA anniversary, NH Democrats warn GOP Senate candidates would make health care worse

New Hampshire Democrats marked the 16th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act this week by accusing Republican US Senate candidates John E. Sununu and Scott Brown of backing policies that would make health care more expensive and less accessible for Granite Staters. 

At a Concord press conference, Deputy House Democratic Leader Laura Telerski said the ACA, which passed under the Obama administration, helped expand coverage and lower costs. But Republicans have a long record of trying to weaken the policy. Former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Sherman, a physician and former state senator, joined her in warning that another Republican vote in Washington would threaten health coverage in New Hampshire.

During his 2010 Massachusetts Senate campaign, Brown promised to be the “41st vote” against President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, and in his 2014 New Hampshire Senate bid, he opened his campaign by attacking “Obamacare”, saying: “So many problems with our economy happened because of Obamacare.”

Sununu’s more recent comments have focused on the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, which took effect during the pandemic. Coverage of this week’s press conference reported that Democrats highlighted Sununu’s opposition to extending those credits, which expired in December, including remarks that making them permanent would be “fundamentally wrong” and “totally unnecessary”.

“Scott Brown and John Sununu have both openly supported repealing this landmark legislation that has saved lives,” Telerski said, casting the two Republicans as out of step with voters dealing with higher premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs.

Sherman said he had seen firsthand, as both a doctor and lawmaker, how coverage affects people’s health, finances, and ability to work. He argued Medicaid expansion and marketplace coverage have been especially important in New Hampshire and said sending Brown or Sununu to Washington would put those gains at risk.

Sherman argued that efforts to gut the ACA are being compounded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which he said is discouraging vaccinations and weakening the federal public health response. The result, Sherman said, is a system moving away from preventive care and affordable coverage at the same time.

“I hold RFK Jr. and the MAHA Movement responsible for unnecessary illness and potentially unnecessary deaths that are resulting from this mismanagement.”