Biden campaign taps Pelosi on Obamacare after Trump threatens health law

[November 29, 2023]  By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's re-election campaign enlisted former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday to warn about threats to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, after former President Donald Trump pledged new efforts to replace the law if he wins a second term.

THE TAKE: Tuesday's push, a Pelosi call with reporters and campaign staff, highlights a new Biden campaign strategy, dubbed "Trump's America in 2025," which plans to highlight what Democrats think the Republican former president will do in office if elected, as well as his multiple legal troubles.

The Biden campaign will broadcast Trump's threat against the law with new advertising in battleground states, and contrast Biden's efforts to lower drug costs.

KEY QUOTE: In 2024, "the Affordable Care Act and all its transformational benefits will be on the ballot," said Pelosi, who chairs the national advisory board of the Biden campaign.

"The American people will need to know that if Donald Trump wins next year, he's coming for your health care," she said.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

BY THE NUMBERS: In January, the Biden administration said nearly 16 million Americans signed up for health insurance through the ACA marketplace, a 13% jump from a year earlier. Overall, more than 40 million American had health coverage under the ACA, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about efforts to strengthen United States supply chains that effect economic and national security, during the first meeting of the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House complex in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

CONTEXT: In 2018, Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives by campaigning against Republican efforts to upend the health care law, and polls since then show most Americans support the law.

Biden is starting to sharpen his attacks on Trump at fundraisers and political events, and plans to ramp them up further if and when Trump clinches the Republican nomination, aides say. Some Democrats and donors have pleaded with the White House to take the emphasis away from Biden's economic record, dubbed "Bidenomics."

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Biden and Trump locked in a tight race, with Trump leading Biden 51% to 49% when respondents were asked to pick between the two.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and David Gregorio)

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