Distortions on health care
On health care, the candidates traded shots on whose ideas represented the greatest threat to the public. Gillum accused DeSantis of voting repeatedly to get rid of Obamacare and along with it, its protections for people with pre-existing conditions[1].
DeSantis targeted Gillum’s endorsement of the Medicare for All plan.
"If you read it actually abolishes Medicare for seniors," DeSantis said. "It abolishes Medicare Advantage. It abolishes Tricare ( the military health insurance program)."
Based on the text of the Senate bill[2], DeSantis is way off base about it ending Medicare for seniors. The bill explicitly retains Medicare and extends it to every resident to "provide comprehensive protection against the costs of health care and health-related services."
It is a proposal for national health insurance and is actually more comprehensive than the current Medicare program, including dental, vision and long-term care. Under that plan, seniors would see better coverage than they have today.
RELATED: Ron DeSantis says Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum presided over the highest crime in Florida[3]
Medicare for All would bar insurance companies from offering services covered by the national health insurance program. In that respect, DeSantis has a point about the end of Medicare Advantage, a government program that subsidizes premiums paid to private health insurance companies. The bill also would fold in the military’s Tricare program.
Gillum went after DeSantis’ history of voting for repeals of the Affordable Care Act, pulling a soundbite from his opponent’s stable of cable hits.
"He told a cancer patient who wanted to know without insurance coverage, how would they get access to health care, he said,
