WATCH: Ahead of Trump’s Visit to Georgia, Democrats Host Press Conference Highlighting Republicans’ ‘Trump First, Georgians Last’ Agenda to Gut Health Care

Today, as Donald Trump prepares to headline a rally with his handpicked slate of Republican candidates in Georgia on Saturday, Georgia Democrats held a press conference calling out Republicans’ ‘Trump first, Georgians last’ agenda:repealing the Affordable Care Act, increasing health care premiums, andgutting protections for pre-existing conditions.

Speakers also highlighted how, as Republicans continue their war on health care, Georgia Democrats are fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act, lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs, expand Medicaid, and ensure access to quality, affordable health care for all Georgians.

Watch footage of the press conference here.

“The positions of David Perdue and Herschel Walker – along with every other Republican running in Georgia – are clear: they would attack the Affordable Care Act, gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, oppose Medicaid expansion, and support plans that would drive up health care costs for Americans,” said Congresswoman Nikema Williams, Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia. “While Democrats are fighting to improve Georgians’ health care, the Republican agenda puts Trump first and Georgians last, and will keep people from accessing essential health care in communities all across the state. We can’t let that happen. Georgians need leaders who will ensure families can continue to access health care through the Affordable Care Act, who will work to lower costs on essential drugs, and who will take action to extend coverage to the over 500,000 people who stand to benefit from Medicaid expansion.”

“My 12 year old Bauer was diagnosed with type one diabetes just after his sixth birthday. When I was laid off during the pandemic, I didn’t just lose my income, I lost my health insurance – the insurance that keeps my son alive. But thanks to the ACA’s subsidies, when I lost my coverage, I was able to enroll my family on a plan through the exchange, and we were able to keep our heads above water,” said Teresa Acosta, a Georgia ACA enrollee and mother of a young son with diabetes. “The plan I enrolled in through the ACA marketplace made it possible to afford insulin and the technology that we rely on to keep my son healthy…the ACA not only rescued me…allowing me to follow my American dream and start a business. I know how my family’s story began. But how will my family’s story end? Thank you to Senator Warnock for his tireless efforts in strengthening the ACA and lowering health care costs. For so many Georgians like me, we need to make insulin affordable and strengthen the ACA that has been so successful.”

“If you don’t have insurance, or you live an hour away from the nearest hospital, the nearest health provider, your health is going to suffer — and unfortunately, statistics show that the health is suffering here in Georgia,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, an Atlanta oncologist and internist who has practiced medicine in urban and rural communities across Georgia. “Too many women in Georgia have lost their lives during and after pregnancy because they don’t have access to maternal care before and after pregnancy in their communities. There are cancer survivors who, before the Affordable Care Act became law, couldn’t get health coverage after their cancer diagnosis, because cancer was a pre-existing condition. But those on stage with Donald Trump tomorrow have continuously opposed Medicaid expansion and relentlessly attacked the ACA, which has been a lifesaver for so many Georgia patients. We should expand Medicaid to cover the additional half million Georgians and save rural hospitals, and our leaders should be fighting to protect people with pre-existing conditions.”

“Trump and his cronies are holding the rally in Commerce, Georgia, a place where residents struggle to access and afford health care. Fifteen percent of commerce residents lack health insurance, and Commerce is home to one of the nine rural hospitals that have closed across the state since 2010…now the closest hospital is twenty to thirty miles away,” said Liz Ernst, State Director of Protect Our Care Georgia. “It’s outrageous and tone deaf that Trump, Perdue, and Walker will visit Commerce and focus on disproven election lies and party infighting, instead of addressing the region’s health care crisis. Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to over half a million Georgians, prevent deaths in our rural communities, and save our rural hospitals. But not if we elect David Perdue or any Republican as governor. We need leaders who will protect the Affordable Care Act, which more Georgians rely on than ever before.”

Read more about the impacts of Medicaid expansion on Georgia’s rural health care here and protecting the Affordable Care Act here.

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