News

Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that it would grant cert in Texas v. United States, the Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Press reports swiftly pointed out that with the court’s move to decide the fate of the ACA in its upcoming term, Trump faces a health care “nightmare” in his reelection bid. If his lawsuit is successful, Trump will have to answer for stripping coverage from millions, raising premiums and ending protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions during the 2020 election.

Associated Press: Supreme Court’s Decision To Weigh In On Texas Lawsuit “Will Keep Health Care Squarely In Front Of Voters.” “The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, a case that will keep health care squarely in front of voters even though a decision won’t come until after the 2020 election.” [Associated Press, 3/2/20] 

Associated Press: The Trump Administration “Has Always Supported Getting Rid Of Provisions That Prohibit Insurance Companies From Discriminating Against People With Existing Health Ailments.” “The Trump administration’s views on the law have shifted over time, but it has always supported getting rid of provisions that prohibit insurance companies from discriminating against people with existing health ailments. Even as the administration seeks to overturn “Obamacare” in court, President Donald Trump has claimed people with preexisting conditions would still be protected. Neither the White House nor congressional Republicans have specified how.” [Associated Press, 3/2/20] 

Axios: The Supreme Court Could Be Trump’s ACA Nightmare. “The Supreme Court’s next big Affordable Care Act case could be a huge political problem for President Trump. Why it matters: The Trump administration will spend the next several months urging the court to strip away some 20 million people’s health insurance and to throw out protections for pre-existing conditions. And it may all come to a head just before Election Day.” [Axios, 3/3/20]

CNN: Obamacare Arguments Put Supreme Court And Health Care In Presidential Election Spotlight. “The Supreme Court agreed Monday to once again become the decider on the future of Obamacare — the controversial law that has become a fabric of society for the millions of Americans who have come to rely upon it. But the justices ensured something else as well. They guaranteed that over the next several months, as the presidential election rages on and legal briefs flood the zone, the fate of the law and the court will be front and center during the campaign.” [CNN, 3/2/20] 

Washington Post: Supreme Court’s Obamacare Review Cheers Democrats With Election Year Health-Care Focus.” “The Supreme Court on Monday said it will review the latest Republican efforts to doom the Affordable Care Act, guaranteeing that partisan battles over health care will remain at the forefront of public debate in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign.” [Washington Post, 3/2/20] 

New York Times: “One Issue That Could Be Particularly Consequential For The Election Is The Threat The Case Poses To The Law’s Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions.” “One issue that could be particularly consequential for the election is the threat the case poses to the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Those protections, which bar insurers from denying coverage to people with past or chronic illnesses or charging them more, are popular with Americans of all political persuasions. Democrats made them a huge focus of their successful 2018 effort to retake the House, and will undoubtedly put them front and center again.” [New York Times, 3/2/20] 

POLITICO: The Supreme Court’s Decision “Increases Pressure On President Donald Trump Over Health Care, A Top Concern For Voters And An Issue That Has Benefited Democrats Since The GOP’s Failed Effort To Repeal Obamacare.” “The Supreme Court on Monday said it will take up a Republican challenge to Obamacare, in a move that boosts Democrats who want to highlight the lawsuit’s threat to health care coverage during campaign season. The justices said they would hear the case, likely later this year, after turning down an earlier request from Democrats to fast-track a ruling by June. The decision increases pressure on President Donald Trump over health care, a top concern for voters and an issue that has benefited Democrats since the GOP’s failed effort to repeal Obamacare during Trump’s first year in office.” [POLITICO, 3/2/20]

Vox: The Red States’ Legal Arguments Against Obamacare Are Widely Viewed As Ridiculous, Even By Many Lawyers And Scholars Who Spent Much Of The Last Decade Trying To Convince The Courts To Repeal [The ACA].” “The red states’ legal arguments against Obamacare are widely viewed as ridiculous, even by many lawyers and scholars who spent much of the last decade trying to convince the courts to repeal President Obama’s signature achievement. Jonathan Adler, a conservative law professor — and a leading evangelist for an earlier lawsuit seeking to undercut the Affordable Care Act by reading a poorly drafted provision of the law to cut off much of the act’s funding — labeled many of the red states’ arguments ‘implausible,’ ‘hard to justify,’ and ‘surprisingly weak.’ The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board labeled this lawsuit the ‘Texas Obamacare Blunder.’ Yuval Levin, a prominent conservative policy wonk, wrote in the National Review that the Texas lawsuit ‘doesn’t even merit being called silly. It’s ridiculous.’” [Vox, 3/2/20]

President’s Rally Comes on the Heels of His Widely Panned Response to Coronavirus and News Today That the Supreme Court Will Hear His Lawsuit to Overturn the ACA 

Washington, DC — While Americans grapple with the ongoing threat of the spread of coronavirus, President Trump chooses to hold yet another campaign rally tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina, his second in four days. Tonight’s rally also comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the ACA in its upcoming term. In response to the president’s deliberate choice to put politics over Americans’ health care and safety, Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“President Trump’s disastrous health care agenda, including his politicized response to the threat of coronavirus and ongoing lawsuit to overturn the ACA, continues to put Americans’ lives at risk. Instead of reassuring the American people that he is taking the threat of the coronavirus seriously or dropping his lawsuit that puts the health care of 20 million at risk, including over half a million North Carolinians, he calls coronavirus a ‘hoax’ and continues supporting the lawsuit. It’s clear the president has no interest in taking the threat of coronavirus seriously, as any other president wouldn’t play politics while the world grapples with a potential pandemic of this magnitude. President Trump’s lack of preparedness and his eagerness to take health care away from 20 million Americans not only spreads fear but threatens peoples’ health care at a time they’re worried about it the most.”

BACKGROUND: 

Trump-Backed Texas Lawsuit Would Devastate North Carolinians

If Trump Gets His Way, 503,000 North Carolinians Would Lose Their Coverage

• 503,000 North Carolinians could lose coverage. According to the Urban Institute, 503,000 North Carolinians would lose coverage by repealing the Affordable Care Act, leading to a 43 percent increase in the uninsured rate.
• 70,000 North Carolina young adults with their parents’ coverage could lose care. Because of the Affordable Care Act, millions of young adults are able to stay on their parents’ care until age 26.
• 96,000 North Carolina children could lose their coverage. Almost three million children nationwide gained coverage thanks to the ACA. If the law is overturned, many of these children will lose their insurance.
• 79,600 North Carolina Latinos could lose coverage. The percentage of people gaining health insurance under the ACA was higher for Latinos than for any other racial or ethnic group in the country. According to a study from Families USA, 5.4 million Latinos nationwide would lose coverage if the lawsuit succeeds in overturning the ACA.
• North Carolinians would lose important federal health care funding — an estimated reduction of $4.6 billion in the first year. The Urban Institute estimates that a full repeal of the ACA would reduce federal spending on North Carolinians’ Medicaid/CHIP care and Marketplace subsidies by $4.6 billion. 

For more information on the impact of the Texas lawsuit on North Carolina, click here. 

President Donald Trump: Coronavirus Is The Democrats’ “New Hoax” “With your help we have exposed the far left’s corruption and defeated their sinister schemes and let’s see what happens in the coming months. Let’s watch. Let’s just watch. Very dishonest people. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs, you say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’, ‘Oh, nothing, nothing.’ They have no clue, they don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa, they can’t even count. No, they can’t. They can count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since she got in. It’s all turning, they lost. It’s all turning, think of it, think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that.” [Donald Trump, Rally, North Charleston, SC, 2/28/20] 

Business Insider: “Public Concern Is Rising That The U.S.’s Expensive Health Care System Could Create A Barrier Discouraging People From Seeking Life-Saving Care For COVID-19.” “Health officials, though, are warning that its spread in the US is ‘inevitable’ and urging Americans to prepare, holding out the possibility of school closings, workplace shutdowns, or the cancellation of large public gatherings. Yet public concern is rising that the US’s expensive healthcare system could create a barrier discouraging people from seeking life-saving care for COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — and accelerate its spread around the country.” [Business Insider, 2/29/20] 

• The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt Said “There’s An Important Link Between Broader Health Care Policies Like The Affordable Care Act And Responding To A Potential Public Health Emergency.” “‘There’s an important link between broader healthcare policies like the Affordable Care Act and responding to a potential public health emergency like this virus,’ Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Business Insider. Levitt added that providing people access to inexpensive healthcare is ‘key to both preventing the spread of a virus like this and getting people who are sick treated.'”
• John Cogan, Professor Of Health Insurance Law And Financial Regulation At The University Of Connecticut, Said That He Is Concerned About The Affordability Of A Potential Coronavirus Vaccine With The Threat Of Trump’s Lawsuit To Repeal The ACA And Other Efforts To Sabotage The Health Care Law. “Under the ACA, health insurers must cover federally-recommended vaccines at no cost for most people, according to John Cogan, a professor of health insurance law and financial regulation at the University of Connecticut…Cogan said he’s still concerned about whether a coronavirus vaccine will be affordable, given the Trump administration’s support of a lawsuit that would scrap Obamacare in its entirety. He noted that Trump has sought to weaken and dismantle the health law throughout his presidency— one way was introducing cheaper short-term insurance plans that don’t cover costly services like hospital care or protect people with pre-existing conditions.”

Washington, DC — Today, President Trump and his coronavirus task force are meeting with Big Pharma executives at the White House to discuss the ongoing coronavirus threat. This comes after HHS Secretary Alex Azar implied that a coronavirus vaccine would not necessarily be affordable, testifying before a House committee that “We can’t control that price, because we need the private sector to invest. Price controls won’t get us there.” Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement in response:

“Rather than posing for a photo-op with Pharma executives that he lavished with tax breaks, President Trump should demand that drug companies make any coronavirus vaccine available and affordable to all Americans. American taxpayers are paying for research and development of a coronavirus vaccine, and it is beyond egregious that drug companies — with the president’s help — could even consider trying to pad their pockets at a time when Americans’ health and security matters most.” 

BACKGROUND

HHS Secretary Alex Azar Refused To Commit To Making A Coronavirus Vaccine Affordable: “We Can’t Control That Price.” During his testimony at last week’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Azar claimed he wanted to make a potential vaccine affordable, but said “we can’t control that price because we need the private sector to invest. The priority is to get vaccines and therapeutics and price controls won’t get us there.” 

President Trump Rewarded Drug Companies With Billions Of Dollars In Tax Breaks While Taxpayers Foot The Bill For Vaccine Research. In his 2017 tax overhaul, Trump rewarded drug companies with billions of dollars in tax breaks yet drug companies have continued to raise prices. Meanwhile, taxpayers are on the hook for funding research and development of new vaccines. According to Public Citizen, since the SARS outbreak, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has already spent nearly $700 million on coronavirus research and development.

The Court Should End the Threat Created By President Trump and Republicans’ Meritless Lawsuit That Hangs Over Americans’ Health Care 

Washington, DC — Today, the Supreme Court announced it would grant cert in the Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. In response to the Court’s decision, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement: 

“If President Trump and his allies are successful, 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose protections and 20 million Americans will lose coverage. Every serious legal scholar agrees that this Trump-Republican lawsuit is entirely without merit. Every Republican who claims to care about health care should tell the president to drop this lawsuit.” 

BACKGROUND:

President Trump is trying to rip apart our health care by going to court to eliminate the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. If the Trump lawsuit is successful, it will strip coverage from millions of Americans, raise premiums, end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, put insurance companies back in charge, and force seniors to pay more for prescription drugs. The result will be to — as the Trump Administration itself admitted in Court — unleash “chaos” in our entire health care system. 

View the full fact sheet on Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the ACA HERE

If the Affordable Care Act is struck down:

• GONE: Protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. The uninsured rate will increase by 65 percent. 
• GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers 17 million people. 
• GONE: Nearly 12 million seniors will have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare ‘donut hole’ will be reopened.
• GONE: 2.3 million adult children will no longer be able to stay on their parents’ insurance. 
• GONE: Insurance companies will be able to charge women 50 percent more than men.
• GONE: Financial assistance that helps 9 million people purchase health care in the marketplace.
• GONE: Key support for rural hospitals. As Americans lose coverage, already struggling hospitals will be hit even harder as their costs increase.
• GONE: Ban on insurance companies having lifetime caps on coverage.
• GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.

Washington, DC — As the threat of coronavirus becomes a reality that Americans cannot ignore, the president and vice president are doing exactly that. Tonight, President Trump will attend a campaign rally in South Carolina while the vice president, who just on Wednesday was tasked with leading the administration’s coronavirus response, is courting rich donors in Florida at a $25,000 a plate fundraiser. Despite dire warnings from health officials that coronavirus will “inevitably” become a global pandemic, the president and vice president continue to put their own political futures over the safety of the American public. In response, Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach, who coordinated the Ebola response within HHS under President Obama, released the following statement: 

“President Trump and Vice President Pence’s continued focus on their personal politics instead of keeping America safe from coronavirus shows us how woefully unprepared they are to handle this crisis. On a day when the president should be laser focused on tackling coronavirus he has decided to hold a campaign rally while the vice president courts rich donors in Florida. From muzzling CDC and NIH officials to spreading misinformation, it’s clear that President Trump and Vice President Pence care more about their reelection than protecting Americans.” 

BACKGROUND

• Tampa Bay Times: What’s on Mike Pence’s schedule as coronavirus point man? A fundraiser in Florida.
• Washington Post: Pence Seizes Control Of Coronavirus Response Amid Criticism Of His Qualifications.
• The Guardian: Mike Pence ‘not up to task’ of leading US coronavirus response, say experts
• ABC News: As he leads coronavirus response, Pence criticized for handling of HIV outbreak while Indiana’s governor
• Associated Press: Pence’s handling of 2015 HIV outbreak gets new scrutiny

Washington Post: Pence Plans To Continue His Heavy Campaign Schedule During Coronavirus Outbreak. “Pence plans to continue his heavy campaign schedule — which has often included trips to two battleground states each week, according to a senior administration official. There’s not much in Pence’s vice presidency that would indicate he will be able to command a whole-of-government response removed from political considerations, said Joel Goldstein, a professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and author of ‘The White House Vice Presidency.’” [Washington Post, 2/27/20] 

Associated Press: Trump Tried To Blame Democrats For Stock Market Drop In Coronavirus Press Conference. “Trump spent close to an hour discussing the virus threat, after a week of sharp stock market losses over the health crisis and concern within the administration that a growing outbreak could affect his reelection. He blamed the Democrats for the stock market slide, saying, ‘I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves.’ And he shifted to defend his overall record and predict a win in November.” [Associated Press, 2/27/20] 

Politico: President Trump And His Aides Have Been “Trying To Downplay The Situation In Hopes They Can Put A Lid On The Stock Market Tumble And Cable News Coverage Of Mounting Deaths Around The World.” “The grim news and the angst on Capitol Hill is threatening to overwhelm the messaging from President Donald Trump and some of his aides, who have been trying to downplay the situation in hopes they can put a lid on the stock market tumble and cable news coverage of mounting deaths around the world. Trump’s advisers and political allies are increasingly concerned that a botched response could hurt the U.S. economy and put his reelection prospects at risk.” [Politico, 2/25/20] 

Washington Post: Trump “Remains Worried Than Any Large-Scale Outbreak Could Hurt His Reelection Bid.” “The markets fell as the outbreak grew. On Jan. 31, the same day several airlines suspended flights and the United States announced its escalated response, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 600 points, or 2 percent. Trump grew concerned that any stronger action by his administration would hurt the economy, and he has told advisers that he does not want the administration to do or say anything that would further spook the markets. He remains worried that any large-scale outbreak could hurt his reelection bid.” [Washington Post, 2/16/20] 

Washington, DC — Yesterday, President Trump appointed Vice President Pence to lead the administration’s coronavirus response efforts. Less than 24 hours into his new role, Pence has already demonstrated a dangerous lack of preparedness for this critical position. In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach, who coordinated the Ebola response within HHS under President Obama, issued the following statement: 

“On day one of leading the administration’s coronavirus response, Vice President Pence has already chosen politics above preparedness. Before attending even one meeting on the ongoing threat of coronavirus, Pence delivered a speech at hyper partisan CPAC, muzzled the experts at CDC and NIH, and placed political loyalists like Larry Kudlow, who claimed without evidence that the virus has been contained, on his task force. The more Trump and his allies continue to play politics instead of acknowledging the severity of the situation at hand, the longer America will remain unprepared and at risk.”

BACKGROUND:

Pence Is Continuing To Downplay The Risk Of The Virus While Exaggerating The Administration’s Preparedness. “At CPAC, Pence emphasizes that only 1 new coronavirus case has been identified in the past 2 weeks. While the risk to the American public remains low, as the president said, we’re ready.” [Aaron Blake Twitter, 2/27/20] 

Pence Is Taking Control Of All Coronavirus Messaging (And Already Silencing Experts). “The vice president’s first move appeared to be aimed at preventing the kind of contradictory statements from White House officials and top government health officials that have plagued the administration’s response…Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, one of the country’s leading experts on viruses and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told associates that the White House had instructed him not to say anything else without clearance.” [New York Times, 2/27/20] 

Larry Kudlow Falsely Claimed The Virus Was Contained. “‘We have contained this. I won’t say [it’s] air-tight, but it’s pretty close to air-tight,’ Kudlow, the National Economic Council director, said on CNBC’s ‘The Exchange,’ adding that while the virus was a ‘human tragedy,’ it would not be an ‘economic tragedy.’” [The Hill, 2/25/20]

At a press conference yesterday, President Trump announced that Vice President Mike Pence will lead the administration’s response to the deadly coronavirus. If tapping Pence was meant to ease the growing concerns about the administration’s chaotic response to the threat of a global pandemic, Pence’s extreme anti-science views and abysmal public health record did quite the opposite. To further raise questions about how seriously the administration is taking this growing threat, Pence’s first public act as the coordinator of our coronavirus response is to give a political speech at CPAC.

MIKE PENCE’S “DEFINING MOMENT” AS GOVERNOR OF INDIANA WAS ENABLING A MASSIVE HIV OUTBREAK

Pence Cut Funding To Planned Parenthood, Delayed Declaring A State Of Emergency Amid Worst HIV Outbreak In State’s History. “The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program. In 2011, as a member of Congress, he voted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Two years later, a Planned Parenthood clinic that had been the only HIV-testing center in Scott County, Ind., closed after public health spending cuts, HuffPost reported. Two months passed from the start of the outbreak in 2015 before Pence declared a public state of emergency.” [Washington Post, 2/27/20] 

Pence On CDC’s Recommendation To Implement A Needle Exchange Program: “I Don’t Believe Effective Anti-Drug Policy Involves Handing Out Drug Paraphernalia.” “‘I don’t believe effective anti-drug policy involves handing out drug paraphernalia,’ he told the Indianapolis Star at the time. Despite assurances from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it is an effective way to halt the spread of infections and diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, Pence said that if state lawmakers tried to send him a bill for a needle-exchange program, he would veto it.” [Washington Post, 2/27/20] 

Yale Researchers Found That The HIV Epidemic Could Have Been Prevented If The Pence Administration Had Acted Faster. “‘Our findings suggest that with earlier action the actual number of infections recorded in Scott County — 215 — might have been brought down to fewer than 56, if the state had acted in 2013, or to fewer than 10 infections, if they had responded to the HCV outbreak in 2010-2011. Instead they cut funding for the last HIV testing provider in the county,’ said Forrest W. Crawford, associate professor of biostatistics and of ecology and evolutionary biology, and the paper’s senior author.” [Yale News, 9/13/18] 

HIV Researcher Gregg Gonsalves On Pence’s Response To The Austin Outbreak: “He Waited Til It Was Too Little, Too Late.” “The initial response was slow. Pence, then governor, opposed syringe exchange programs, which were illegal in Indiana. It took him 29 days after the outbreak was announced to sign an executive order allowing a state-supervised syringe program. By then, HIV cases had risen to 79. ‘He waited till it was too little, too late. These needle exchanges were put into place in the most grudging manner,’ said Gregg Gonsalves, an HIV researcher at Yale University. ‘It was a disaster that didn’t need to happen.’” [Kaiser Health News, 2/19/20] 

MIKE PENCE CLAIMED THAT “SMOKING DOESN’T KILL” AS RECENTLY AS 2000

Mike Pence In 2000: “Smoking Doesn’t Kill.” “Time for a quick reality check. Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill. In fact, 2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer. This is not to say that smoking is good for you…news flash: smoking is not good for you. If you are reading this article through the blue haze of cigarette smoke you should quit.” [MikePence.com, 2000] 

• Pence In 2000: “There Is No Direct ‘Scientific Causal Link Medically Identifying’ A Link Between Smoking And Lung Cancer.” “Pence’s history of promoting tobacco companies and denigrating public health campaigns against smoking came back to bite him in his 2000 congressional race. His opponent, Bob Rock, raised it in a debate. Pence responded, per a local news report Kaczyinski unearthed, by saying that ‘the article was taken out of context and that while there is no direct ‘scientific causal link medically identifying’ a link between smoking and lung cancer that was not the point of writing it.’” [Vox, 10/4/16] 

Pence Voted Against Allowing The FDA To Regulate Tobacco Products. Mike Pence voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. According to the New York Times, “More than four decades after the surgeon general declared smoking a health hazard, the Senate on Thursday cleared the final hurdle to empowering federal officials to regulate cigarettes and other forms of tobacco for the first time. The legislation, which the White House said President Obama would sign as soon as it reached his desk, will enable the Food and Drug Administration to impose potentially strict new controls on the making and marketing of products that eventually kill half their regular users. The House, which passed a similar bill in April, may vote on the Senate version as soon as Friday. ‘This is a historic step changing the nature of tobacco in society forever,’ said Clifford E. Douglas, the director of the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network, which has extensively studied the health effects of smoking and was one of many groups that have long pushed for tobacco regulation. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the new law would reduce youth smoking by 11 percent and adult smoking by 2 percent over the next decade, in addition to reductions already achieved through other actions, like higher taxes and smoke-free indoor space laws.” [New York Times, 6/11/09; HR 1246, Vote #187, 4/2/09]

Pence Defended The Tobacco Industry From Lawsuits Brought By States To Recoup Medical Expenses Related To Smoking. “Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence wrote an op-ed in 1997 equating the health risks associated with cigarettes with those associated with candy. Pence, who was a conservative radio host in Indiana at the time, was defending the tobacco industry, which had been successfully sued by some states to recoup medical expenses related to tobacco. The settlement also limited the tobacco industry from engaging in certain marketing practices. […] ‘The premise of the suit is quite creative. States are suing tobacco companies to recover the increased health care expenses incurred by Medicaid and Medicare programs from the use of cigarettes,’ writes Pence. ‘Sounds reasonable enough. If states have to bear the cost of health care for the poor and elderly, states should be able to collect from companies that contribute to bad health. The state of Indiana should have the power to recover damages from any company whose products cause an additional drain on the state’s limited healthcare resources cigarettes certainly qualify but what about candy?’” [Buzzfeed, 7/18/16] 

PENCE SLASHED FUNDING FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS AS GOVERNOR OF INDIANA 

Pence Signed Legislation That Cut Indiana’s Budget For Public Health Programs To One Of The Lowest Levels In The Country. “As governor, Pence signed legislation that cut Indiana’s budget for public health programs, despite the state’s many pressing public health problems. Indiana has a high smoking rate, high obesity rate, and high infant mortality rate. The state is ranked nearly last for both federal and state public health funding. According to Trust for America’s Health, Indiana spends just $12.40 per resident on public health. West Virginia, in contrast, spends more than $220.” [NPR, 7/21/16] 

Pence Cut Funding For The Indiana Tobacco Prevention And Cessation Office By $3 Million. “In 2015, Pence signed a law making it easier to create cigar bars in the state. And his administration slashed the already small amount of the tobacco tax and settlement money available for smoking prevention and cessation in 2013, well below the CDC’s recommended levels. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, ‘Funding for Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation was down to $8 million per year when Pence took office in January 2013. And within his first week, the Pence administration slashed the agency’s budget to $5 million.’ Indiana now has the highest adult smoking rates of any state in the industrial midwest region and the seventh highest smoking rate in the nation. With among the lowest tobacco taxes of any state, public health experts warn the state is ‘really in bad shape.’” [Think Progress, 7/14/16] 

Pence Repeatedly Voted Against Public Health Funding As A Member Of Congress. “As a member of Congress from 2001 to 2013, Pence voted against funding for health programs such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Prevention and Public Health Fund.” [NPR, 7/21/16] 

THE TRUMP-PENCE HEALTH AGENDA INCLUDES CUTS TO GLOBAL HEALTH FUNDING, REPEALING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

THE FY2021 Budget Once Again Sought Cuts To Key Programs For Global Disease Response. In the FY2021 budget, the Trump administration proposed steep cuts to the two agencies in charge of the coronavirus response, seeking to reduce NIH funding by $3.7 billion and CDC funding by $1.29 billion. The administration previously proposed cutting global health funding in his 2020 budget from more than $10 billion to $8 billion, its lowest level since 2008. Per Foreign Policy, other Trump-backed efforts included “reducing $15 billion in national health spending and cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS.” 

Pence Supports Medicaid Block Grants, Which Threatens States’ Ability to Respond to Outbreaks. Under the Trump administration’s proposed block grant, federal funding would no longer necessarily increase in response to a public health emergency. This could lead to people losing coverage and access to care, undermining prevention and treatment of diseases nationwide. 

Efforts To Repeal The ACA Would Cut Key Funding From The CDC. In 2017, Vice President Pence promised “the Obamacare nightmare is about to end.” The GOP repeal bills Pence supported would have eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund. In 2017, the Washington Post reported that this fund “provides almost $1 billion annually to CDC, now about 12 percent of CDC’s budget. It includes prevention of bioterrorism and disease outbreaks, as well as money to provide immunizations and heart-disease screenings.” The Trump administration is currently supporting a lawsuit that could repeal the ACA in its entirety, and there is no plan to maintain this funding if the courts overturn the health care law.