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Donnelly, Braun Talk Health Care On Campaign Trail

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun speaks with supporters at the Indiana State Fair.
Brandon Smith/IPB News
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun speaks with supporters at the Indiana State Fair.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) talked about health care on the campaign trail Friday as he makes his pitch for re-election.

Democrats are seizing on the issue in what they hope is a winning strategy this election cycle.

Hoosier Republicans didn’t lose many elections in recent years when they ran on pledges to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But Congress spent the last year and a half trying – and mostly failing – to do away with the law and replace it with a new system. Donnelly says voters notice.

“It’s contributed to the problems that we have in health care where you look and there’s questions about whether pre-existing condition coverage will continue,” Donnelly says.

Republican Senate candidate Mike Braun is clear – he wants to dismantle the ACA. He says the challenge is a replacement.

“Typical liberal or the Democrat plan is whatever it costs, try to do it. That’s played out in front of us and it’s falling apart,” Braun says.

Braun says conservatives don’t talk enough about the need for reform within the health insurance industry.

Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state.
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