2018: Republicans Target Democrats Who Support Single-Payer Health Care

Single-Payer Health Care protester (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
Joel Pollak / Breitbart News

On Thursday, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) launched a 58-second digital ad targeting Democratic congressional candidates Bryan Caforio and Josh Harder in the California’s 25th and 10th Districts over their party’s support for a single-payer, government-run healthcare system.

“Big government has destroyed the American healthcare system as we know it,” the narrator in the ad says. “But it gets worse: A new plan brought to you by the same Democrats who gave us Obamacare.”

The words “European-style single-payer health care plan” are prominently displayed in the video. The ad closes by warning constituents, “Tell Nancy Pelosi and California Democrats, ‘We can’t afford single-payer healthcare.'”

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) won in the 10th district by 3.4% in 2016, and Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA) won by 6.2%.

Although Caforio and Harder were not mentioned by name, NRCC spokesman Jack Pandol told the Los Angeles Times they are the targets of the ad. The ad also features Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Democrats are determined to take Republican seats in several California districts where Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump. Orange County, a former conservative stronghold that voted for Clinton in 2016, is one of the key battleground regions in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, for example.

California state lawmakers are considering a single-payer system, although those efforts have been put on hold for the time being.

State Sen. Richard Lara (D-Bell Gardens) authored SB 562, a single-payer healthcare act known as the “Healthy California Act“. In May, the State Senate Appropriations Committee released a legislative analysis that found the left’s “socialized” plan for health care coverage would cost the Golden State $400 billion annually. That figure is two to three times the amount California currently spends on its budget.

In March, Gov. Jerry Brown — who will be termed out in 2018 —  vocally dismissed single-payer healthcare in California, telling the Los Angeles Times, “How do you do that?… This is called ignotum per ignotius…. In other words, you take a problem and say, I’m going to solve it by something that’s even a bigger problem,’ which makes no sense.”

 

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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