Joe Biden and Donald Trump may be the names on the election ballot this fall, but the real question for voters to decide is health care. That's according to former Iowa US Senator Tom Harkin, during a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon.
He says if the Supreme Court throws out the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, then it will be up to the next president and Congress to replace it.
"Any way you look at it, what's on the ballot in November is health care - affordable, quality health care for all Americans is on the ballot this November. And the only way to insure we meet that goal of affordable quality health care for all is to make sure Joe Biden is our next president."
Joining him on the call was Nick Salazar, Iowa State Director for LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. He says Latinos suffer from lower access to health care and losing the ACA would make it worse.
A good example is the pandemic - in Iowa Latinos make up six per cent of the population but account for 30 per cent of the COVID cases.
"We are already disproportionately impacted, so something like this where we take the health care away and throw people off it, will be a disaster for Latinos in Iowa and across the country."
Harkin says a key feature of the ACA is that those enrolled can not be charged for what's considered a "federally recommended vaccine," an important benefit when a vaccine against COVID-19 is finally developed.
