There’s arguably nothing more American than apple pie, baseball, and extremely high medical bills. Thankfully, Democrats have taken the first step to fix this issue by successfully banning surprise medical bills. This will no-doubt deliver real relief to hundreds of thousands of hospital patients annually. The No Surprises Act bans surprise medical billing for emergency room patients, which has become a growing problem as the cost of healthcare rises. Democrats deserve credit for this victory, because surprise bills are the last thing patients should be worrying about during recovery.
Although there is still much more work to be done to fix our healthcare system, this was a good first step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard many Democrats talking about this victory. Look — voters are simple, we want real tangible results when we vote for a particular candidate. Most voters don’t want to hear about Trump, or how scary Republicans are, they want to know how Democrats are fighting for them.
Democrats need to run on this issue in the midterms and blast this message on the radio and airwaves for days: Democrats banned surprise medical bills. Additionally, Democrats need to double-down on their commitment to expanding Medicaid and Medicare to cover more Americans. No one, and I mean no one loves surprise medical billing. No one loves their insurance companies, and absolutely no one loves insurance networks. These are issues Democrats have the power to address.
If Democrats want to stand a chance in 2022, they absolutely need to make the midterms about fixing our healthcare system, not about Trump or Biden. Policies like Medicaid expansion and Medicare for All poll extremely well, even among Republicans. According to a March 2021 Morning Consult poll, around 70% of Americans support a public insurance option, while 55% explicitly support Medicare for All. Among Republicans, 28% outright support Medicare for All, and a surprising 56% support a public insurance option.
By shifting the dominating narrative around these elections, we may be able to fight back against Republican gerrymandering. Although it’ll be a huge hurdle to overcome, we can’t give up yet.
The polling is on our side, the morality of these policies is on our side, the American people are on our side. We just need the Democratic Party to pick up the torch and lead this fight.
Ben brings over four years of experience as a political communications manager and graphic designer to Texas Signal, where he serves as our Social Media Manager and does everything from designing graphics and posting on social media, to writing a column about current events. Ben was the Social Media Director for College Democrats of America during the historic 2018 midterms when Democrats swept the House of Representatives. Ben was a first-generation university student and graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.
