STILLWATER, Minn. — Vice President Kamala Harris’ collection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her operating mate is making well being care a front-burner concern within the ultimate dash to the November presidential election.
Walz, a 60-year-old former highschool trainer and soccer coach, has a file of supporting left-leaning well being care initiatives throughout his two phrases as governor and whereas serving within the U.S. Home of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He additionally leads a state central to the well being care trade: Minnesota is house each to the nation’s largest well being insurer, UnitedHealth Group, and one among its most prestigious hospital programs, the Mayo Clinic.
Republicans have seized on his file to painting the Harris-Walz ticket as excessive on well being care, whereas Democrats say Walz’s efforts to decrease drug prices and protect abortion entry are mainstream positions that attraction to swing voters. Both manner, his choice thrusts well being care middle stage as an election concern, underscoring the primacy of the nation’s battle over abortion entry in addition to voters’ deep angst over spiraling well being care prices.
A lot of Walz’s stances dovetail with these of Harris.
He has fought for abortion entry, signing laws to codify abortion rights within the state, and in March toured a Deliberate Parenthood clinic with the vice chairman.
He supported congressional laws empowering the federal authorities to barter drug costs in Medicare, a medical health insurance program for seniors and the disabled. The Biden administration on Aug. 15 launched new, lowered costs for 10 medicine in this system that stem from the negotiations between the federal government and drugmakers. The decrease prices will kick in in 2026.
As governor, Walz signed laws in 2020 to cap out-of-pocket insulin prices to $35 a month for eligible residents with an pressing want for the medicine. Two years later, President Joe Biden did the identical for all Medicare sufferers.
Early within the covid-19 pandemic, Walz mandated that masks be worn in most indoor public areas. He prolonged an govt stay-at-home order in 2020, which led former President Donald Trump to submit “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” on X, the social platform then known as Twitter.
“He has frequent sense in relation to points and coverage,” stated Andy Slavitt, a former UnitedHealth govt and former administrator of the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies. “He’s not an ideologue. He’s an impartial thinker who cares about individuals who don’t have sources,” stated Slavitt, who served as a senior adviser to the Biden administration’s covid response workforce.
Walz additionally has championed fertility therapies, sharing his private story of how he and his spouse, Gwen, relied on them to conceive. As a result of in vitro fertilization is underneath rising menace by some abortion opponents, regardless of its broad reputation, his firsthand information of fertility challenges is including political muscle.
“Walz has been articulate and enthusiastic about his expertise with IVF, and that connects with individuals on each side of the aisle,” stated Christoper Sheeron, founder and president of Motion for Well being, a nationwide nonprofit advocacy group.
Republicans in Minnesota say Walz’s well being care positions will work in opposition to the Democratic ticket. They criticize his 2021 covid vaccination or common testing requirement for state staff, his help of laws codifying abortion rights, his backing of leisure marijuana legalization, and a invoice he signed to increase public well being protection to some immigrants missing authorized residency.
“Underneath Gov. Walz, we noticed one of the radical, far-left agendas within the nation. Whereas Individuals are trying to find unity, Walz has a file of implementing excessive insurance policies that solely divide us additional,” the Republican chief of Minnesota’s state Senate, Mark Johnson, stated in a press release. “He has put our state on a path to government-run well being care and championed restrictive well being care mandates that restrict Minnesotans’ entry to life-saving care.”
Minnesotan Tracy Mitchell stated that earlier than Walz’s choice she was leaning towards backing former President Donald Trump in November as a result of she believed he would do extra to decrease her well being care prices.
The announcement cemented her choice: She’s voting for Trump.
“I’ve three youngsters, and well being care will get costly,” Mitchell, 38, of Ham Lake, stated whereas visiting Stillwater, Minnesota, together with her household. She is the director of program operations for a psychological well being care clinic.
“The way in which he dealt with covid, and by way of well being care, I believe he’s too excessive,” she stated.
Nonetheless, Democrats specific hope {that a} larger give attention to well being care will give them a bonus within the election, tapping into voter considerations about pocketbook points in swing states.
Forty-eight % of Republicans or adults who lean Republican stated well being care affordability is a really massive drawback within the nation, in line with a Could ballot by the Pew Analysis Heart. Sixty-five % of Democrats or adults who lean Democratic agreed.
The priority tops unlawful immigration, the federal price range deficit, gun violence, and drug dependancy.
Three in 4 adults stated they’re very or considerably fearful about with the ability to afford surprising medical payments, primarily based on a ballot performed in January and February by KFF, a well being data nonprofit that features KFF Well being Information.
“Republicans have at all times suffered as a result of they speak about well being care in financial phrases,” stated William Pierce, who’s a senior director at APCO Worldwide, a worldwide advisory and advocacy agency, and a former GOP congressional aide. “Democrats speak about it as a private concern. The collection of Walz provides them a larger alternative to push it more durable.”
Walz’s counterpart on the GOP ticket, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has much less expertise with well being care points. However he has sought to point out concern about rising prices and boundaries to care.
Throughout a latest go to in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vance stated the federal government should do extra to protect well being care entry in rural America.
In a July 2017 op-ed revealed by The New York Occasions, properly earlier than he ran for the Senate as a Republican, Vance expressed help for some provisions of the Inexpensive Care Act and criticized the GOP push to repeal the regulation as a result of, he stated, the proposal “withdraws its helps for the poor.”
Since becoming a member of Trump’s ticket, Vance has aligned his views with Trump’s on the ACA — a regulation Trump tried and didn’t repeal whereas president.
“The distinction is between these defending the ACA and those that would repeal it; the selection of Walz makes that distinction as clear as ever,” stated Anthony Wright, the chief director of Households USA, a nonpartisan group targeted on well being care entry and affordability.
Vance has backed letting the federal authorities negotiate Medicare drug costs — a uncommon level of settlement on well being coverage with Democrats.
Like Trump, he opposes gender-affirming take care of transgender minors. However he has taken firmer positions than the previous president on abortion — a vulnerability Democrats have sought to use. Public help of abortion rights has elevated for the reason that Supreme Court docket struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022 and plenty of Republican-led states moved to impose strict bans.
Each the Democratic and Republican campaigns are drawing contemporary scrutiny of their positions on well being care. California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’ tremendous PAC, Californians for Selection, launched an advert this month saying Vance helps a nationwide abortion ban, “stripping away our freedom.”
Like Trump, Vance has lately stated states ought to resolve particular abortion insurance policies, however he beforehand supported outlawing abortion nationwide.
Trump’s marketing campaign, in the meantime, has labeled Walz “Tampon Tim” due to a state regulation he signed requiring menstrual merchandise to be obtainable to “all menstruating college students in restrooms commonly utilized by college students in grades 4 to 12, in line with a plan developed by the varsity district.”
A latest Trump marketing campaign advert known as Walz “too bizarre. Too radical.”
However Walz’s addition to the ticket has energized Democratic voters with well being care considerations resembling Angel Palm, 32, a life coach for individuals with disabilities who lives in Fridley, Minnesota.
“My son is autistic and has medical prices. It’s so vital,” she advised KFF Well being Information. “I’m so stoked.”
sarmour@kff.org,
@StephArmour1
