By: Bill Salisbury
10/9/2020
Earlier Friday, Craig and Kistner clashed over reforming the nation’s health care system in their second debate in as many days.
During a 25-minute exchange on Minnesota Public Radio, the two candidates traded charges over who would best provide health insurance coverage for people with preexisting conditions.
Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Trump administration’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act that, among other provisions, makes it illegal to deny coverage to someone with preexisting conditions.
Kistner has said he supports President Donald Trump 99 percent of the time, Craig said, so he must favor repealing Obamacare and its protections for people with preexisting conditions.
“The ACA is literally on the ballot in November,” she said.
Kistner denied Craig’s charge, saying, “I will always protect preexisting conditions.”
While he supports repealing the Affordable Care Act, Kistner has said he favors replacing it with a lower-cost health care plan. In the debate, he said he would “do everything I can to make health care affordable.”
Craig scoffed at the notion that Republicans would produce an alternative plan. They’ve been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act since it was passed a decade ago, she said, and they still haven’t proposed a plan to replace it.
The two candidates are scheduled to appear in a third and final debate on Twin Cities Public Television’s “Almanac” show on Friday, Oct. 16.