President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is partnering with doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to reach voters on the ground as part of a new national organizing strategy launching this week.
The new Health Care Providers for Biden-Harris program will seek to utilize the credibility of medical professionals within their communities to highlight the incumbent president’s health care agenda and contrast it with that of former President Donald Trump.
“We know that in today’s fragmented media environment, our strongest route to voters is tapping into trusted messengers,” Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler said on a call with reporters. “This diverse coalition of doctors and nurses have deep roots in their communities, and they’re well practiced at discussing one of the most critical issues of this election: protecting and expanding access to affordable health care.”
Expanding access to health care and lowering its costs for families has emerged as one of Biden’s key pitches to voters as he stares down a likely rematch with his 2020 rival, Trump.
On the campaign trail, the Democratic president frequently touts what he says as his biggest accomplishment in the health care space, such as capping insulin costs at $35 a month and enabling Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. The White House and Biden’s campaign have honed in on record Affordable Care Act enrollment during Biden’s presidency – particularly as the former president toys with a renewed push to repeal the Obama-era health care overhaul that polls show has risen in popularity.
“The choice for voters on this issue couldn’t be more stark: While Donald Trump is trying to rip away health care from millions of Americans, President Biden is expanding access to affordable care,” Illinois Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood, who is also a registered nurse, told reporters.
As part of the effort, the campaign is particularly hoping to reach Black and Latino voters in which the issue of health care, the campaign says, is particularly salient.
“As someone who’s witnessed firsthand the destruction caused by Donald Trump’s health care agenda, I couldn’t sit on the sidelines in this election and as a Black woman in America, the stakes are that much higher,” Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens, a pediatrician from Philadelphia told reporters. “Black communities have the most to lose under a second Trump presidency.”
During the 2023 Affordable Care Act open enrollment period, enrollment of Black and Latino people increased 95% and 103% respectively since 2020, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced a new rule that will allow immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to become eligible for Affordable Care Act coverage. Biden touted the move – projected to help about 100,000 people gain health insurance – during a Cinco de Mayo reception last week at the White House.
It comes amid polls showing that while Democrats still have a firm grip on support from Black and Latino voters, such support could be slipping.
And new polling from The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer out on Monday shows Biden trailing Trump in a head-to-head match-up among registered voters in five of six critical battleground states.
Republicans’ crusade against Obamacare largely quieted in the years after three GOP senators voted against repealing it during the Trump administration in 2017. But the former president reawakened the fight last year when he warned the legislation could be on the chopping block again should he win back the White House in 2024.
“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social.
Amid the attention on his comment, Trump clarified that he doesn’t want to “terminate” the law, but wants to “replace” the landmark health care legislation.
Along with seeking to court voters within their communities directly, the medical professionals will participate in press events in battleground states this week, according to the Biden campaign.
Spectrum News’ David Mendez contributed to this report.
Maddie Gannon
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