Democratic U.S. House candidate Mac Schneider says if elected, he plans to work on preserving health care gains North Dakota has experienced under the Affordable Care Act.
He says while there are parts of the health care law that need improvement, the ACA has made great strides to provide health care to people who need it. He says the ACA protects coverage for North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions, and that just shy of 20-thousand North Dakotans gained access to health care under Medicaid expansion between 2013 and 2016. He also says there was 54 percent drop in the state's rate of uninsured residents between 2013 and 2015. He says health care coverage is integral to anyone's quality of life.
"Someone suffers a medical emergency because of their health, they can't continue in their jobs. Because they no longer have a job, they no longer have employer sponsored health insurance. Because they don't have health insurance, they can't get access to quality health care. Because they can't get access to care, their condition deteriorates further, and they're unable to reenter the work force. Now, that's not the way it's supposed to be done. North Dakota recognized that. Under Medicaid expansion, the hard working North Dakotans I represent - they're able to get coverage, and able to get treated, even when they lose their employer sponsored health care. And many of them have actually gotten better to where they're able to reenter the work force. It's a true success."
Schneider says his Republican opponent Kelly Armstrong, a former state legislator, supports the total repeal of the Affordable Care Act calling it an "unmitigated disaster." So far Schneider says Armstrong has not yet talked about concrete plans of what to replace the law with. He says that means people could lose coverage in the meantime - and he isn't on board with that.
"I fully recognize that the individual insurance market is failing North Dakotans. I would join the bipartisan effort to enact new laws to make insurance more affordable to individuals and small businesses. But when it comes to unmitigated disaster, that phrase is more appropriately applied to taking health insurance away from a group of North Dakotans whose combined population is about the size of Valley City and Jamestown. I'm not willing to go backwards on health care. And neither are the people of North Dakota. I'll leave the idealogical crusades of the last decade in the past, keep what works, and extend a hand to Republicans to work in good faith to improve access to quality health care until everybody in this country can see a doctor and afford it."
Schneider is a Grand Forks attorney and former state legislator.