JD Vance’s Views on Health Care: What to Know

Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who was selected as former President Trump’s running mate on Monday, has been in the Senate for less than two years but has taken positions on health care that run counter to his party and follow the Republican Party line.

Vance is a Yale-educated venture capitalist who rode the wave of Trump-era populism to a Senate seat. Like most Republicans, he is strongly anti-abortion, opposes gender-affirming care and wants to exclude “Dreamer” immigrants from federal health programs.

But he also expressed opposition to the complete repeal of ObamaCare, supported negotiating Medicare drug prices, and worked to pressure federal health officials to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailment caused a chemical spill. .

This is where he stands on important issues:

ObamaCare

Vance authored a 2017 New York Times op-ed in which he criticized the House and Senate’s efforts to repeal the health care law because each would eliminate support for low-income individuals and leave too many people uninsured.

“We will protest the way the government has destroyed our health care market in one fell swoop and resist the support offered to the poor and middle class to navigate this disruption from others. This is not conservative; it is incoherence disguised as ideological purity,” he wrote.

When Trump expressed support last year for reviving repeal efforts, Vance was among the many Senate Republicans who shrugged.

When asked about Trump’s comments, Vance said Traffic light At the time, although health care was too expensive and “ripe for reform,” some parts of the law were “broadly popular,” such as protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

“I don’t think there’s any effort to try to change them,” Vance told the outlet.

But there will likely be a major battle in Congress next year over extending ObamaCare’s enhanced subsidies that helped people afford insurance. Congressional Republicans and outside conservative groups largely oppose such a move, although Trump has not weighed in.

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

In a 2022 interview with AARP during his Senate campaign, Vance said he supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

“I think we have to let Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices so our seniors don’t pay too much for prescription drugs,” Vance said.

Negotiating drug prices is one of the key provisions of President Biden’s Reducing Inflation Act, which Republicans oppose. Many in the Republican Party argue that Medicare negotiations are government price controls that could harm the development of new drugs.

Trump originally campaigned on Medicare drug price negotiations in the run-up to the 2016 election, but later abandoned it in favor of a “most favored nation” policy that tied Medicare drug payments to overseas prices .

Vance also supported allowing U.S. companies to import medicines from abroad, another policy Trump supported while in office.

health care for ‘Dreamers’

Vance opposes the use of taxpayer money to provide health care to “Dreamers,” people brought to the country illegally as children but protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

He introduced a bill to explicitly exclude DACA recipients from ObamaCare and prohibit the use of any federal taxpayer dollars through ACA waivers to provide health insurance coverage to immigrants living in the country illegally.

Vance criticized a Biden administration policy finalized in May that would allow DACA recipients to enroll in certain ObamaCare exchange plans, saying Biden was “giving his hard-earned money to illegal immigrants in the form of taxpayer-funded health care.” .

Transgender health

Vance introduced a bill last year that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony punishable by 10 to 25 years in prison.

The bill reflects state bans on the procedures, but would also block taxpayer funding for them, including banning gender-affirming care coverage from ObamaCare plans. It banned universities from providing instruction on “gender-affirming care” and deemed noncitizens who performed any gender-related procedures on a minor ineligible for visas or admission to the United States.

Vance too cast doubt about the impact of such treatment on mental health.

Abortion/reproductive rights

Vance has a strong anti-abortion record and has received an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent anti-abortion group.

He campaigned against Ohio’s 2023 ballot measure guaranteeing abortion rights, and previously said he would vote for a national ban on abortions at 15 weeks.

During his Senate campaign, Vance applauded the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Wade and supported Texas’ abortion ban, which does not allow exceptions beyond cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right”, he he said in 2021 when asked whether abortion laws should allow exceptions for rape and incest.

However, the following year, Vance said during a debate “I have always believed in reasonable exceptions.”

Like Trump, Vance has tried to show he can moderate the issue.

In an interview on Meet the Press earlier this month, Vance said he supports the “affordability” of mifepristone, despite many conservatives wanting to ban the drug.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story