Biden campaign hits Trump on Medicaid as North Carolina implements expansion

The Biden campaign seized on the expansion of Medicaid coverage in North Carolina on Friday to blast former President Trump over his renewed vow to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, potentially threatening health care coverage for millions of Americans.

“Elections have consequences and today, because the people of North Carolina elected Governor Roy Cooper, 600,000 North Carolinians will be eligible for coverage under Medicaid,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “This morning, President Biden applauded that progress — while Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are actively campaigning on a promise to take it away.

“Americans want a leader who is working to make health care more affordable and more accessible,” she added. “Who believes it is a right, not a privilege. Donald Trump has failed to pass that test.”

North Carolina’s Medicaid expansion will go into effect Friday, with hundreds of thousands of people in the state expected to qualify for coverage and be automatically enrolled. The federal government covers 90 percent of the cost as part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare.

President Biden and his campaign have spent the week hammering Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, over his recent comments in which he said he would push to get rid of ObamaCare if he is reelected.

The campaign argued Friday that Trump “has made clear he stands with insurance companies over hardworking Americans and will stop at nothing to repeal the ACA – even if it means throwing the lives of millions into chaos.”

Biden, in a statement of his own, warned, “MAGA Republicans still want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, just like my predecessor tried and failed to do repeatedly.”

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act means that states, including North Carolina, wouldn’t be able to offer care through Medicaid expansion,” Biden said.

Trump campaigned on repealing ObamaCare during his first term, but the effort stalled in Congress. The former president raised the topic again Sunday.

“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” he wrote on Truth Social. 

In subsequent posts this week, Trump doubled down, writing on Truth Social, “ObamaCare sucks!” and that he wanted to replace it.