PANTS ON FIRE: Kevin Cramer is Lying, Running from His Votes to Undermine Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions

Cramer previously accused people with pre-existing conditions of trying to “game the system”

(BISMARCK, ND) — Kevin Cramer is so worried about his record on health care that he keeps lying about it. Today, he claimed he supported protections for pre-existing conditions, but his claim couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s also rewriting history about the dangerous Washington Republican health care bills – including the tax legislation, which is raising health care costs – so we wanted to set the record straight.

“Put simply, Kevin Cramer’s record on health care is dangerous for North Dakota – now, he’s lying about it to climb the political ladder and further his own career,” said Scott McNeil, Executive Director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Cramer can’t hide from his reckless health care record of raising costs and gutting protections for hardworking North Dakotans. Cramer owes North Dakotans a straight answer – does he agree with this administration that coverage for pre-existing conditions should be struck down? We need a yes or no – not talking points from Mitch McConnell and his D.C. machine.”

Today on ‘What’s on your Mind’ with Scott Hennen, Cramer said he supports protecting pre-existing conditions coverage which was “exactly what we did in the American Health Care Act,” and that the “same thing, of course, was in the Graham-Cassidy bill.” Despite his efforts to mislead voters, Cramer has championed efforts to gut protections for preexisting conditions, which is exactly what both legislative efforts he pointed to would have done. Listen to his full answer here.

Here are the facts:

• DOES CRAMER AGREE WITH STRIKING DOWN COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS? When asked about this today, Kevin Cramer dodged the question. But North Dakotans won’t accept his Washington, D.C. talking points – they deserve to know whether Cramer agrees with the DOJ that coverage for pre-existing conditions should be struck down.

• GAMING THE SYSTEM – Despite today’s two-step, Kevin Cramer has already showed us his true colors. In an interview with a conservative TV host, he accused people with pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma or diabetes of trying to “game the system” by getting coverage. Watch for yourself.

• AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT – Kevin Cramer wants to rewrite history on his voting record. But the fact of the matter is that Cramer’s health care bill would have gutted protections for people with pre-existing conditions, thrown 30,000 North Dakotans off their care, slapped seniors with an Age Tax and raised costs for hardworking families.

• GRAHAM-CASSIDY – Once again, Kevin Cramer gets the facts wrong – this bill could have spelled disaster for the almost 300,000 North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma or diabetes.