Harris pushes to make health care a top campaign issue. Many voters agree

Though repealing the Affordable Care Act is not a main focus of this year’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing hard to put health care front and center in the campaign – hoping it will help Democrats at the ballot box as it has in recent years.

Though repealing the Affordable Care Act is not a main focus of this year’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing hard to put health care front and center in the campaign – hoping it will help Democrats at the ballot box as it has in recent years. This week alone, the Harris campaign unveiled a health care ad blitz, including one spot saying that Americans risk losing their coverage and Obamacare protections if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House and another focusing on Harris’ efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs, including insulin. More health care-related spots are forthcoming. The ads follow the Harris campaign’s release of a 43-page report that seeks to fill out the “concepts” of a health plan that Trump mentioned in September’s debate, slamming him and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for comments the vice president argues will reduce access to coverage and raise costs. “Democrats always want to be talking about health care because they have a political advantage over Republicans on the issue with voters,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research organization, told CNN. “Trump and Vance have both opened the door to criticism that they want to once again try to replace the ACA, and the Harris campaign has walked right through that door.” In an election where neither Harris nor Trump has rolled out detailed policy platforms, voters are hungry for more information on the candidates’ views on health care. Around two-thirds of US adults say the topic is not receiving enough attention during the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a poll from West Health and Gallup released Monday. Among Democrats, that figure jumps to 78%, but even 53% of Republicans feel that way. Among independents, about two-thirds think health care is not getting enough attention.