Dialysis Companies Donate $111M To Oppose Ballot Initiative To Cap Their Profits
The well-funded anti-Proposition 8 campaign is spending the bulk of its money on TV and radio ads to appeal to California voters.
The Associated Press:
Dialysis Companies Spend $111 Million To Kill Ballot Measure
Dialysis companies have contributed an extraordinary $111 million and counting to defeat a California ballot initiative that would cap their profits, the most any one side has spent on a U.S. ballot issue since at least 2002. A $5 million donation from this week from dialysis provider Fresenius Medical Care pushed the anti-Proposition 8 campaign's total past the $109 million pharmaceutical companies spent two years ago to defeat a measure limiting prescription drug costs. More than $70 million has been spent on television and radio ads as well as consulting services in the last two months. (Bollag, 10/26)
On the national elections stage, preexisting conditions protections emerge as flashpoint —
The New York Times:
To Rally Voters, Democrats Focus On Health Care As Their Closing Argument
Senator Claire McCaskill isn’t subtle in reminding voters what her campaign is all about. She’s rechristened it the “Your Health Care, Your Vote” tour. The turnaround could not be more startling. After years of running as far as they could from President Barack Obama’s health care law, Ms. McCaskill and vulnerable Senate Democrats in Florida, West Virginia and other political battlegrounds have increasingly focused their closing argument on a single issue: saving the Affordable Care Act. Now, with Republicans desperate to reposition themselves and come up with their own health care pitch, and with the elections roiled by gale-force winds on immigration and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, the question is whether health care will be enough to save her and Democrats in other key Senate races. (Gabriel, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Pre-Existing Condition Discord Shows Health Care Still A Hot-Button Issue
As President Trump pushes ahead with efforts to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are seizing on his moves to attack Republicans’ claims that they will protect people with pre-existing medical conditions. Republicans are hitting back, saying Mr. Trump’s actions will increase consumer choice and that they strongly favor covering pre-existing conditions. In either case, the back-and-forth shows the continuing potency of health care as an issue less than two weeks before the midterm elections. (Armour, 10/28)
The Washington Post:
These Republicans Are Misleading Voters About Our Obamacare Fact Checks
Somewhere, somehow, a memo must have gone out to Republican lawmakers who voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare: If you are attacked for undermining protections for people with existing health problems, jab back by saying the claim got Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post. That’s not true. Republicans are twisting an unrelated fact check and are misleading voters. We have found at least seven politicians who have done this. (Kessler, 10/29)