WASHINGTON, D.C. — What should the future of healthcare look like in the United States? The ongoing pandemic has only intensified the focus on that question this election cycle.
In North Carolina's must-watch U.S. Senate race, the two candidates are offering very different visions.
On the Front Lines
In her fight against cancer, DonnaMarie Woodson has gone into battle not once but twice, facing down colon and breast cancer.
Woodson, who lives in the Charlotte area, describes the Affordable Care Act as a godsend in her cancer fight.
After her husband lost his job and the insurance that came with it, she says the ACA allowed her to access the screenings, where they discovered her cancer.
“It can happen to anyone at any time. We all have to have quality affordable healthcare,” she said, noting that they received a subsidy to help them afford the coverage.
Woodson is now five years cancer free, but says she has to be vigilant with her check-ups.
She also hopes that others have the same access to care that she had. “Healthcare is a right, it should not be a luxury,” she said.
Where the Candidates Stand
Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis has long criticized the Affordable Care Act and has voted to repeal it, arguing it is too expensive for individuals.
“Millions of people who have a policy under the Affordable Care Act, they who can’t afford to use it,” he told reporters recently while on the campaign trail.
Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham says he wants to build on the ACA, adding a public option and expanding subsidies in the insurance marketplace.
“We actually need to fix the subsidies in order to close the gap between the cost of those policies and what people can afford,” he said.
Both candidates say they back protecting those with pre-existing conditions, a core component of the ACA.
“We have to guarantee that anyone can get healthcare whether or not they have a pre-existing condition,” Tillis said.
But repealing the Affordable Care Act — as Tillis has voted to do — would take those protections away. In its place, Sen. Tillis has introduced legislation to address pre-existing conditions, but analyses indicate it falls short of the protections that already exist through the ACA.
Cunningham, meanwhile, says he would like to see North Carolina expand Medicaid — something Sen. Tillis blocked while serving in the state legislature, arguing at the time that financial problems with the state’s existing program needed fixing first.
“In the 38 states that have accepted the Medicaid expansion, they’ve seen a real reduction in costs for everybody,” Cunningham said. “They’ve seen an extension of care to hundreds of thousands of additional Americans.”