Alison Esposito Would Repeal Law That Is Lowering Cost of Medicine

HuffPost : "Conspicuously lacking from the statement was any denial that Esposito wants to repeal the drug pricing reforms or Obamacare… The district's Democratic incumbent, Pat Ryan, has a history of supporting both programs."

A recent report by HuffPost outlined the dangers of what would happen to critical health care legislation if MAGA extremists win in November - including Republican Alison Esposito.

Asked at a campaign event if she would support repealing the Affordable Care Act, Esposito responded, "Well, yes" and "Obamacare doesn't work." Additionally, Esposito confirmed that she would repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which would roll back provisions to lower health care costs.

When asked by HuffPost to clarify her positions, Alison Esposito's spokesperson refused to deny that she would repeal either of these critical health care bills.

DCCC Spokesperson Ellie Dougherty:
"Alison Esposito would repeal critical health care legislation Hudson Valley families rely on, like the Affordable Care Act and drug pricing reforms. Esposito is completely out of touch with the priorities of New York's 18th Congressional District."

HuffPost: The GOP's Obamacare Agenda Just Reemerged From Hiding
Jonathan Cohn | September 18, 2024

KEY POINTS:

• Of course, cutting health care programs to finance tax cuts isn't especially popular. Neither is undermining protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Republicans know this too well. The 2017 repeal effort was a political catastrophe for them and it's why nowadays they don't go out of their way to talk up the cause.

• But that doesn't mean they've given up or that they couldn't scrounge up the votes if they were back in control of Washington. Just consider some comments a Republican House candidate in a key swing district made over the summer.

• The candidate, Alison Esposito, is running in New York's 18th Congressional District. Like most Republicans on the ballot this year, she hasn't had a lot to say about health care. But questions about it came up at campaign events twice over the summer, according to recordings a source provided to HuffPost.

• The first came at a local conservative meeting in July. An audience member mentioned that Trump last fall had posted on social media that Republicans should "never give up" trying to "terminate" the Affordable Care Act and that, if elected to a new term, he would replace it with a still-unspecified "better" alternative.

• "I'm wondering if that's something that you support or something that you could speak to," the audience member said.

• Esposito responded, "Well, yes, there has to be a better system of health care in place." Later she said that "Obamacare doesn't work."

• [The Inflation Reduction Act's] future was the subject of the second question Esposito got, this time during an electronic town hall in August. "Would you vote to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act?" a questioner asked Esposito.

• "Yeah," she responded. "That act was reckless, and [Vice President] Kamala Harris was the deciding vote for the printing of money and irresponsibly and recklessly putting it into our system, our budgets."

• … When HuffPost put those questions directly to her campaign, the response, given by a spokesperson, was to bemoan the high cost of health care, attack Biden for supposedly undermining part of Medicare and promise that Esposito would "find ways for everyone to find the healthcare coverage that works best for them and their family."

• Conspicuously lacking from the statement was any denial that Esposito wants to repeal the drug pricing reforms or Obamacare. The district's Democratic incumbent, Pat Ryan, has a history of supporting both programs. And though Esposito may not be looking to lead a crusade against either program, other Republicans might be.

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