The electoral campaign of US President Joe Biden is increasing its efforts to convey to Hispanics a key message for the 2024 elections: Yeah donald trump win, the health coverage they depend on will be in jeopardy.
The warning is issued after Trump will threaten during the weekend with reopen the debate for derogate The Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as “Obamacare,” which Republicans tried to repeal for years after it went into effect in 2010.
“The Health Care Law is a matter of life or death for millions of Latinos”said Julie Chávez Rodríguez, director of Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, this Thursday.
A ‘lifesaver’ for the Hispanic community
Chávez Rodríguez considered that “Obamacare” has been “a life jacket” for the Latino community and maintained that when Trump says he wants to repeal that law “is telling millions of Latino families that he wants to take away their access to health care”
“As much as he claims to be fighting for our community, the reality is that he constantly sides with big pharma and insurance companies at our expense and voters won’t forget it next November”, he stated.
In contrast, Chávez Rodríguez argued, Biden has “compliment” with the Latino community taking action to increase access to healthcare and impose a limit of 35 dollars per month for insulin paid by patients who benefit from “Medicare”, a program for those over 65 years of age.
The Hispanics, african americans and other minorities would be the most harmed groups if that law were repealed, since since its implementation it has allowed health coverage to expand throughout the United States and has significantly reduced racial and ethnic disparities in access to health care.
At the moment, 40 million people receive medical care with the insurance that can be purchased through this law or “Medicaid,” a program for low-income people created in 1965 and expanded by some states to include more needy Americans.
This expansion, which began to be implemented in 2013has been especially beneficial for Hispanicswho saw how the uninsured rate decreased from 40.2 percent to 24.5 percent in 2021according to a report from the “Commonwealth Fund” foundation dedicated to promoting access to health care.
Access to medical care, key for 2024
Given this reality, the campaign Biden tries to persuade Latinos in states where they have great weight, such as Snowfall, Florida and Arizonaso that they consider access to health cast your vote at the polls in 2024.
In Arizona, where 33 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic, up to 1.14 million residents under age 64 with pre-existing health problems could lose their insurance because they have pre-existing health conditions, according to data from the nonprofit organization Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
During years, US health insurance companies denied coverage to Americans with diseases like cancer or charged them higher pricesbut “Obamacare” prohibited that.
In Nevada, with 29.1 percent Latino, up to 487,000 residents could be left without access to medical care due to previous illnesses. The figure rises to 2.1 million in Pennsylvania, a state that is not distinguished by a large presence of Latinos (8.6 percent), but which could be decisive for the 2024 elections.
One of the states that would be most harmed by the repeal of “Obamacare” is Floridawhere Latinos represent 26 percent of the population and 3.52 million people would lose access to medical care due to already having diseases, according to the aforementioned KFF data.
