Opinion: Democrats and Republicans couldn’t be more different when it comes to healthcare

Last month marked the second anniversary of the catastrophic Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the constitutional right to abortion. While abortion remains legal in Nevada, the anniversary served as an important reminder that Republicans’ threats to strip away our healthcare have only just begun.

From fighting to end Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower prescription drug costs to stripping away subsidies for working families to get healthcare on the insurance exchange to restricting access to birth control, the Republican agenda is clear: they want to end healthcare as we know it and allow insurance companies to make money off of illness. 

Next year, I’ll be entering my third term as an Assemblywoman. Throughout every session, I have fought to pass laws so that Nevadans can have access to high-quality and affordable health care. Yet, time and time again, Republicans have opposed our efforts and instead pushed policies that constrain women’s access to health care and increase costs for everything from insurance premiums to prescription drug prices. 

And, as we all know, their healthcare policies are particularly harmful to women. Not only have Republicans implemented their agenda to deny us our fundamental rights to make our own healthcare choices, but their policies also lead women to skip or postpone going to a doctor at a rate of 1.3 times more than men because of higher costs. 

If Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans get their way, women will have a much harder time seeing a doctor, paying the bills when they get sick, and accessing life saving reproductive care.

President Biden and congressional Democrats have, on the other hand, worked tirelessly to improve access to women’s health care needs by expanding coverage, reducing costs, and working to launch new public health initiatives. President Biden and Democrats have pledged to enshrine Roe into law if we can get a Democratic House and Democratic Senate and reelect President Biden. Quite frankly, it is the only way we can remove the stain that Donald Trump and his Trumpified Supreme Court have left on America.

But the work to improve access to healthcare and lower costs doesn’t end there. 

Democrats in Congress are pushing for critical maternal health investments to address racial disparities and save lives. The “Momnibus Act,” H.R. 3305 and S. 1606, would improve maternal health by growing and diversifying the maternal healthcare workforce, providing basic tools and training to address societal differences, and guaranteeing 12 months of postpartum Medicaid coverage to new moms nationwide.

The monumental Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden and Democrats already passed is also starting to reduce health care costs across the nation, with even more savings on the way. For example, since its passage in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act has been lowering Affordable Care Act annual premiums by an average of $800 per person. And, starting in 2026, Medicare will be able to start negotiating prescription drug costs. This is a huge step forward to addressing the outrageous drug prices set by out-of-touch pharmaceutical company executives and will help lower drug prices for more than 4.5 million women across the nation, including 300,000 in Nevada. 

Here in Nevada, we even attempted to go a step further with the passage of AB250, which I was proud to support and vote for, and would have extended these Medicare negotiated savings to all Nevadans regardless of age. Unfortunately, like the rest of the Republican Party, our Republican governor sided with the pharmaceutical companies that bankrolled his campaign and vetoed it, leaving Nevadans to pay higher prescription drug costs than they should. 

We are at the threshold of implementing life changing policies that will improve access to quality, comprehensive health care by expanding coverage, reducing costs, and improving care in the communities where it is most needed thanks to the work of the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats. Unfortunately, all that work and all the effort will be eviscerated if Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans take control and implement their agenda to decimate women’s health care through the courts and legislation. 

There is still so much work to be done to fix the problems of the Trump administration and decades of Republican control of Congress, but the Biden administration and congressional Democrats are committed to doing that work so we can save lives and help women secure the care they need.