This article was originally written by DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and published by Word In Black.
Having worked on Capitol Hill for several years, I’ve seen the work that goes into getting a bill signed into law. It can be grueling, but it gives us an opportunity to transform the lives of millions of Americans, and that is exactly what Democrats did 14 years ago when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law.
It’s easy to forget just how inaccessible healthcare was for millions of Americans — and the Black community in particular. Before 2010, insurance companies could deny Americans coverage because of preexisting conditions or price-gouge them with exorbitant premiums.
The Affordable Care Act has been life-changing for our community.
Healthcare companies could set yearly limits on what they spent on essential coverage. Without Obamacare subsidies, families were forced to sit at the kitchen table and make a choice between paying their utility bills or getting the health care they needed. But thanks to President Obama, President Biden, and Democrats in Congress, this is no longer the reality — and even all these years later, it is still a big F-ing deal. Bottom of Form
The Affordable Care Act has been life-changing for our community. Since the implementation of the ACA, the rate of Black Americans under age 65 without health insurance has declined by 40%.
The ACA provides Black Americans with long overdue access to affordable, quality health care, and the Biden-Harris administration is working hard to expand that coverage even further.
President Biden knows how critical this help is for our community.
Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, a record-breaking 21.3 million Americans have enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The ACA has quickly become a critical lifeline in ensuring that Americans are healthy, safe, and have access to affordable care.
When President Biden capped insulin costs at $35 a month for our nation’s seniors, prices drastically lowered for the nearly 40% of Black Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes.
That’s a promise made and a promise kept. President Biden knows how critical this help is for our community — Black folks are twice as likely to die of diabetes, and millions of Americans are counting on their monthly insulin to get by. Now these seniors, like my grandfather who ultimately passed away from complications of diabetes, are getting the medication they need for a fraction of the cost.
Our community is also facing a Black maternal health crisis, where Black women are three times more likely to die in connection with childbirth. Vice President Harris has been leading the fight to solve this crisis — and because of her work strengthening Obamacare, 43 states have expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage.
No matter which way you look at it, President Biden and Vice President Harris have been laser-focused on putting money back in our pockets, keeping our families healthy, and closing the health disparities that have disproportionately impacted our communities.
The same can’t be said for MAGA Republicans, led by Donald Trump, who have proven that they will not stop until Obamacare is repealed and Americans are left uninsured and in the dark.
That’s who Donald Trump is. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.
Don’t take it from me; take it from Donald Trump. In the middle of a pandemic – which was made worse by Donald Trump’s lies and negligence — he said he was “determined to end” the ACA. But we shouldn’t be surprised. This is the same man whose botched pandemic response left Black Americans behind. And this is the same man who refused to reopen the Obamacare exchanges to let Americans access the care they needed during the pandemic.
That’s who Donald Trump is. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. He desperately wants to take us back to a time when millions of families were uninsured, scared to get the care they needed because of a large hospital bill.
The last four years have shown us that Joe Biden doesn’t just make empty promises.
And he won’t stop there. Remember, he was only one vote away from repealing Obamacare in his first term. If he’s reelected, he won’t only end Obamacare as we know it, but he’ll repeal President Biden’s price caps on insulin and Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices in the future — two provisions that are saving folks thousands of dollars each month.
Like so many in our community, I know exactly what that alternative looks like. My grandfather did backbreaking work his whole life. He rarely had the time or money to see a doctor. He didn’t even know he had diabetes until he could barely walk, and by then, the only treatment was amputating his foot.
That is what Obamacare protects us against. It eases the burden on working people like my grandparents so that they can not just survive, but move forward in their lives.
Fourteen years ago, then-Vice President Biden was instrumental in getting Obamacare signed into law, and now as president, he is delivering on his promise to strengthen the legislation and make healthcare more affordable for all Americans — but there is still more work to be done.
The last four years have shown us that Joe Biden doesn’t just make empty promises — he delivers tangible results for our communities. And if we want to continue making historic progress, we must use our voice and our vote to elect Democrats up and down the ballot who will continue to fight on behalf of the American people — because our lives literally depend on it.
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DNC Chair Jamie Harrison. Courtesy DNC.
Jaime Harrison currently serves as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee. As the son of a single teenage mom, Jaime Harrison was raised by his grandparents in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Jaime knows what it’s like for a family to have to choose between paying the electric bill and putting food on the table, and what it feels like to go to sleep in a home with no heat, because the power was shut off.
But thanks to a good public school education, the love of his family, and the support of his community, Jaime was able to earn a scholarship to Yale University and attend Georgetown Law. After college, Jaime came back home to Orangeburg to teach at his old high school, then worked to help empower disadvantaged kids to attend college. Jaime also served as an aide to legendary South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn. In 2013, Jaime was elected the first African American chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, a position he held until 2017, when he was appointed by DNC Chair Tom Perez as an Associate Chair of the DNC. In 2020, Jaime ran for the U.S. Senate from South Carolina, building a national grassroots movement and setting a fundraising record for the most raised by a Senate candidate. Jaime and his wife Marie live in Columbia, South Carolina, where they raise their two young sons.
