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Harris warns Trump will cut Obamacare; Trump said he never mentioned it

Harris warns Trump will cut Obamacare; Trump said he never mentioned it

Jeff Mason and James Oliphant

PHOENIX/ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris warned voters on Thursday that Republican Donald Trump and his allies would cut health care programs if he wins the White House and said his comments at a rally on Wednesday were offensive to women.

In a brief press conference, Vice President Harris reminded voters that former President Trump unsuccessfully tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, during his 2017-2021 presidency.

“Health care for all Americans is on the line in this election,” she told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin, before flying to Arizona and Nevada as both candidates campaigned in the Southwest.

In response, Trump said he never wanted to abandon the program. “I never mentioned it, never even thought about it,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform after she made the remark.

Opinion polls show a historically close race between Harris and Trump, with the outcome of Tuesday’s US presidential election likely to be decided in seven swing states.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October showed the race sharply divided along gender lines, with Harris leading among women by 12 percentage points and Trump leading among men by seven percentage points.

More than 63 million people have already voted through early in-person voting and mail-in ballots, according to the University of Florida Elections Lab.

As both candidates campaigned in the Southwest on Thursday, they reached out to Latino voters.

Harris, who has received support from a host of celebrities, was given a promotion by pop star and film actress Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas after Mexican rock band Mana played a small concert to introduce them and was earlier supported by basketball great LeBron James. per day.

“I like Hollywood endings. I like it when the good guy, or in this case the good girl, wins,” said Lopez, who was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents.

Trump, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, argued that he could win over the state’s large Latino population, even polling the crowd to see whether they preferred to be called “Hispanics” or “Hispanics.” The answer “Hispanics” easily won.

OBAMACARE IS IN PROBLEM AGAIN

The Affordable Care Act of 2010, once again a campaign issue, provides coverage to approximately 40 million Americans through the nation’s comprehensive health insurance programs. A policy commitment for Democrats when it was passed in 2010, it is now widely popular.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to repeal Obamacare, and after his election, when the House voted to do just that, he welcomed Republicans to the White House for a celebration. But an attempt to repeal the law failed in the Senate in July 2017, when the late Senator John McCain cast the tie-breaking thumbs-down vote.

Trump downplayed the issue during his re-election campaign, although on Thursday he reiterated that as president he would push for insurers to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.

When asked about health care during a televised debate with Harris on Sept. 10, he repeated his assertion that “Obamacare was lousy health care,” but acknowledged that he has yet to offer a comprehensive alternative, saying he has “concepts of a plan.”

Harris has made abortion rights a cornerstone of her campaign, while Trump has vowed to sharply reduce immigration.

Democrats questioned Trump’s comment at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday when he said: “Whether women like it or not, I have to protect them. I’m going to protect them from the migrants coming.”

Harris told reporters she found the “like it or not” comment offensive.

“In fact, I think it’s very insulting to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their rights and their ability to make decisions about their lives, including their own bodies,” she said.

FOCUS TO THE SOUTHWEST

Trump made stops in New Mexico, a traditionally Democratic state, and the swing state of Nevada, while Harris campaigned in Arizona and Nevada.

Trump predicted he would challenge experts who say the New Mexico campaign is futile.

“They all said, ‘Don’t come. You can’t win New Mexico.” I said, “Look, your votes are rigged. We can win New Mexico,” Trump said.

In Phoenix, where Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego warmed up the crowd with remarks that switched seamlessly from English to Spanish, Harris criticized Trump’s rhetoric, which she called “full of hate and divisiveness.”

“He insults Latinos, he scapegoats immigrants,” Harris said.

Latino voters have traditionally been a strength for Democrats, but Trump is gaining ground among the nationally and religiously diverse Latino population in the United States.

Nationally, Trump received the support of 38% of registered Latino voters in a series of Reuters/Ipsos polls this month, up from 32% at the same point in 2020. Harris’ share of Latino voters was 50% compared to Democrats. 54% of President Joe Biden in October 2020.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, James Oliphant and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Katherine Jackson, Eric Beach, Doina Chiacu, Andy Sullivan, Stephanie Kelly and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Costas Pitas and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller, Diane Craft and Lincoln Fist.)