Health care is your hottest election 2018 issue, NJ Here's where Menendez, Hugin, other candidates stand.

Health care is your hottest election 2018 issue, NJ Here's where Menendez, Hugin, other candidates stand. New Jersey Politics ...

Health care is your hottest election 2018 issue, NJ Here's where Menendez, Hugin, other candidates stand.

New Jersey Politics

Health care is your hottest election 2018 issue, N.J. Here's where Menendez, Hugin, other candidates stand.
By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Worried about the high costs of health care? Fearful that insurers again won't cover you if you have a pre-existing condition?

So many Americans feel that way that health care has emerged as the No. 1 topic on voters' minds this fall and could carry the Democrats into a House majority, a reversal over 2010 when outrage over the Affordable Care Act led to a Republican takeover of the chamber.

Almost six of every 10 campaign ads after Labor Day in support of House Democratic candidates mention health care, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political advertising.

"Worries about rising health care costs top the list of voter concerns, which is true not just in New Jersey but nationwide,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, whose poll earlier this month named health care as the top issue among New Jersey likely voters.

President Donald Trump speaks as House Republicans came to the White House to celebrate passing the American Health Care Act.

President Donald Trump speaks as House Republicans came to the White House to celebrate repealing the Affordable Care Act on May 4, 2017. (Stephen Crowley | The New York Times)

Voter backlash to the unsuccessful efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal the law, which would have left as many as 32 million more Americans uninsured, has put several Republican incumbents in jeopardy, including both Reps. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., and Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist.

The issue is also a strength for Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who helped draft the original Obamacare bill, in his tough fight with Republican Bob Hugin, a former pharmaceutical executive.

The Democrats' ads have dubbed the Republican repeal efforts "Trumpcare," seeking to take advantage of both the president's unpopularity and the current support for the ACA, which was backed by 54 percent of likely voters in a Fox News poll, with 43 in opposition.

Meanwhile, false claims about Republican and Democratic positions on health care have become a staple of the president's speeches at his political rallies.

Here's what you need to know about the top issue in the 2018 campaign.

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Gov. Phil Murphy signs bills on women's health care funding in February. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The impact on N.J.

Under the health care law, insurers can no longer refuse to cover those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or cancer, and are limited in how much more they could charge older policyholders.

It provides subsidies to help lower-income Americans who otherwise couldn't afford insurance buy comprehensive coverage.

And it provides $1 billion in federal funds to the state annually to cover most of the costs of expanding Medicaid.

As a result, 472,226 additional New Jerseyans now have health insurance, 688,068 in 2017 versus 1.2 million in 2013, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research group. That lowered the uninsured rate to 7.7 percent in 2017 compared with 13.2 percent in 2013.

Around 800,000 New Jerseyans are receiving coverage under the health care law, 500,000 through Medicaid and about 300,000 through private insurance.

Those buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act can expect an average reduction in their premiums of 9.3 percent next year as Gov. Phil Murphy and the Democratic-controlled legislature enacted two laws to address the problems caused by congressional Republican repeal efforts.

The legislation required all state residents to carry insurance or pay a penalty, and set up a reinsurance program to protect insurers from very high medical claims.

New Jersey insurers last year sought double-digit rate hikes, partly in response to Trump and GOP proposals to repeal the health care law or weaken its provisions administratively.

Where Menendez stands

As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over health care issues, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., helped draft the original Affordable Care Act and fought Republican repeal efforts, which failed by one vote in his chamber.

He also voted against the Republican tax bill that ended the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

Menendez has gone after his Republican challenger, Bob Hugin, former chief executive of Celgene Corp., which lobbied against legislation making it easier for generic companies to bring lower-cost alternatives to market, and which raised the price of its Revlimid cancer drug 20 percent last year in the U.S while cutting it in Russia.

In June, Menendez added his name as a co-sponsor to the generic drug bill Celgene under Hugin lobbied against.

Source: Google News | Netizen 24 United States