IA-02: Republicans' ad attacks Rita Hart on her support for measure they suppported
A new ad from a national political committee hoping to pick up Iowa's 2nd Congressional District seat for Republicans this November attacked Democratic contender Rita Hart for her support of a health care bill Iowa Republicans overwhelmingly supported, while the campaign for Hart's Republican opponent, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, shrank from answering questions about her stance on the measure.
The National Republican Congressional Committee's commercial correctly names Hart as one of the four Democrats in 2018 to vote to allow the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation to partner with Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield to provide "insurance-like" health care coverage for members, according to reporting by the Gazette. Through its low premiums, the plan's sponsors hoped it would provide access to health insurance coverage for farmers who, as Hart told the Gazette, had told her existing plans were too expensive.
As the NRCC's commercial points out, the plans created by the bill, Senate File 2349, lacked protections for applicants with pre-existing conditions, which was a chief concern for many of Iowa's Democratic lawmakers at the time. While the 11 senators who opposed the bill were all Democrats, Hart was one of nine Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans in support for the measure — a vote that put her in line with Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, the 69 Republicans who voted for the bill in the 100-seat Iowa House of Representatives, and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed the bill into law on April 2, 2018.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/10/iowa-congressional-race-democrat-rita-hart-health-care-miller-meeks/5765728002/
