Tauchen ad on health care is misleading

To the editor:

A recent campaign ad for Rep. Gary Tauchen reads “Gary works for health care.” The next line states, “Guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions.”

I found this extremely confusing, since there is no existing Wisconsin law that provides protections for pre-existing health conditions. The only law that guarantees protection is a federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which Tauchen’s party has made every effort to attack.

I contacted Tauchen’s office to better understand why his ad makes this claim and had a good conversation with his staffer, Derrick Scherdell. While Tauchen supported a measure regarding pre-existing conditions, Scherdell admitted that the legislation was never taken up in the Senate and so no bill was ever signed into Wisconsin law.

President Donald Trump, encouraged by the Republican party that has no health plan of its own, is determined to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, which would eliminate health care access for over 7 million Americans and end protections for all Americans who have pre-existing conditions, including over 8 million Americans who have recently contracted COVID-19.

Therefore, if the protections under the federal ACA are gone, there would be no guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions, as claimed by the Tauchen ad. Tauchen can say he supports the idea of these protections, but if he sits silently as his party attacks the ACA, his claim seems disingenuous and misleading.

According to staff, once the ACA is gone, Tauchen thinks Wisconsin will pass laws in its place, but health experts question whether state laws for pre-existing conditions will be comprehensive enough to be successful. To read more about this, go to http://www.wisconsinbudgetproject.org/state-law-cant-adequately-protect-....

The voters of the 6th State Assembly District deserve accurate information as they decide who will best serve the people and the needs of this district.

Laura Robinson, Shawano