ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – Ahead of Pence’s visit to Minneapolis this afternoon, DFL Party leaders and health experts held a press call slamming the Trump administration for its failed leadership on health care, particularly Trump’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a global health crisis, and his attempts to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Leaders also addressed Trump’s attempts to use “law and order” to divide and distract from his failed presidency. The call featured Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota Nurses Association First Vice President Bernadine Engeldorf, former Obama health care advisor Andy Slavitt, State Senate candidate Lindsey Port (District 56), who had COVID-19, State Senate candidate Dr. Aleta Borrud (District 26), and Minneapolis resident Jessica Intermill, who has a pre-existing condition.
Excerpts from call:
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison:
“We’ve now surpassed 200,000 Americans who’ve passed away, among those is my own mom… But you could also include the brother of our lieutenant governor, you can include the father of Ilhan Omar, our congresswoman in the fifth district. This thing is personal and there are so many people we have lost to COVID that it’s getting to the point that everybody knows somebody who lost someone.
“The government could have done something about it. It simply didn’t have to be this way. And the truth is, it has to do with who we choose to lead our country, and our state, and our cities. But it really does start with the top. You know, we have fifty different public health strategies going on because of the federal government, because of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, who just said: ‘We don’t even believe in it. We’re gonna fight tooth and nail with the people who do know what they’re talking about, like Anthony Fauci. We’re going to go after states that are trying to do the right thing.’”
Minnesota Nurses Association First Vice President Bernadine Engeldorf:
“We know our healthcare is in crisis today, particularly with the current leadership. Nurses are on the forefront 24/7, and do feel that their voices are important in our health care today. Trump basically has failed to contain the COVID-19, mainly because he didn’t listen to experts. Apparently not believing science, didn’t take it seriously, and didn’t have a plan in our approach of care during this pandemic. Even during the pandemic, he still tried to repeal our health care for millions, including protections for many as four in 10, who are Americans with pre-existing conditions.
“Trump still claims that the virus will miraculously disappear. He supports treatments that are not accurate or not truthful or not going to help diminish the pandemic. He has not supported social distancing and wearing of the mask as we can see in many of the events he participates in.
“And these issues have been given renewed importance. With the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Trump’s administration’s current case before the Supreme Court on the future, the ACA. We know that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will want to build the ACA, expand affordable coverage, lower prescription drug costs, and ensure a no-cost COVID vaccine. Nurses certainly stand in support of that.”
State Senate candidate Lindsey Port (District 56):
On health care: “I am a mom with two elementary-aged kids in a hybrid schedule. I run a nonprofit. I’m a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate. And I’m a survivor of COVID-19…It’s at this moment, during a global pandemic we’ve failed horrifically to contain, that the Trump administration is fighting in court to end the protections of coverage for pre-existing conditions by dismantling the ACA. If they are successful, more than 90,000 Minnesotans could find themselves unable to get insurance coverage simply because they contracted COVID. The kidney complications I’ve suffered could become a pre-existing condition making my family liable for thousands of dollars in medical care that our insurance company could then deny. Insurance companies are already trying to fight us on this coverage. And if the Trump administration gives for-profit insurance companies the right to decide what they want to cover, we will be in a world of trouble.”
On public safety: “I think it’s a really important question, because this is certainly the conversation we’re having in the suburbs. This election cycle is this law and order and community safety question. I don’t understand how we can look at 200,000 Americans dead over six months and not call that a public safety issue. Health care, access to health care, and managing this pandemic is 1,000%, a public safety and community safety issue. In my district, when we’re talking about this, people are concerned about how their kids are going to go to school safely. They’re concerned about access to affordable housing. They’re concerned about access to health care and prescription drug prices. They’re absolutely concerned about relationships between our community and the police. And that is definitely a part of this conversation. But it is not divorced from the pandemic. And the conversation we’re having in our community in the suburbs is about smart investments that we can make in our community that actually make us safer. And those are things like mental health and public health resources. They are school counselors, they are investments in affordable housing, and they are access to health care, which is certainly the number one crisis we are facing at this moment.”
Former Obama health care advisor Andy Slavitt:
On health care: “Look, we all know we’re going through a very traumatic, difficult time in our history. We failed at some basic things. We failed to contain the virus when it came to our shores. We failed to plan appropriately, to make sure that we had enough testing. We failed to adjust as things grew and changed. But in this time, we really failed to provide people with the leadership or the confidence that we were moving in the right direction… There’s not a Republican way to manage a pandemic, there’s not a Democratic way to manage a pandemic, there’s a good way to manage them and a bad way to manage a pandemic. And hundreds of thousands of people are gone without so much as a sorrowful word is not the kind of leadership we need.”
On public safety: “I’d encourage you to read Joe Biden’s statement last night, you know, in calling for both justice, but also an end to violence, and no violence… You know, I served with Joe Biden, he is someone who diffuses these situations. My fear is that in these types of situations, President Trump and Vice President Pence come and use them as distractions, number one, and then also, in the process, create more heat and more fear. Joe Biden doesn’t think that’s the answer. Kamala Harris doesn’t think that the answer, there’s no conceding whatsoever to fear, we should never concede to fear. We go through tough moments as a country, we need leaders who can get us through those moments.”
State Senate candidate Aleta Borrud (District 26):
“I’m a doctor trained in public health. And I know that the highest responsibility of our elected leaders in this global health emergency is to provide clear, consistent and fact-based messages to the public about what we need to do to stop the spread of COVID. Governor Walz, his administration, in fact, have done this. They’ve delivered consistent messages from the beginning. But this has been countered by the willful and dangerous misinformation coming from this president. And this is misinformation that has been echoed so irresponsibly by many of Minnesota’s Republican leaders. My frontline medical community of Rochester, home of the Mayo Clinic, deserves better than what this Trump administration is delivering. Our medical providers are fearful to go home to their families after caring for patients. Because of this, they deserve better. All the workers who are sick and dying because they lack adequate PPE across this country deserve better. And actually, our voters deserve better. I talked to so many people who are now confused about masks. You know, are they safe? Is it going to hurt my heart failure? Do they actually work? voters also tell me that when a vaccine becomes available, they are afraid to take it because they’re not sure that it will be safe or effective. The Trump administration is undermining the people’s faith in all of our public institutions.”
Jessica Intermill, Minneapolis resident:
On health care: “I’m here to share my story, which starts 10 years ago, way before the pandemic, I was a healthy 31-year-old. My husband and I decided it was time to start our family. And about four weeks into the pregnancy, I could tell something was wrong. Pain in my joints got a little bit worse each day. And by the time I was seven months pregnant, my disease was so advanced that when I saw a rheumatologist for the first time, from across the room, he was able to diagnose me with rheumatoid arthritis. I went home and cried. And 22 days later I delivered our daughter.
“If you see me on the street today, you won’t be able to see the holes that my disease has eaten into my bones. You won’t see the fistfuls of pills that I take every day to keep me healthy. You won’t know that my care in the eight and a half years since I was diagnosed, cost $496,000. You won’t know that just one drug costs $46,000 every year. But the thing about a chronic illness is you can’t put it down. I have to pay these costs. I don’t get to pretend it’s not there during a pandemic. I don’t get to not be immunocompromised anymore. My disease doesn’t care that one drug, the $46,000 a year drug, that’s $125 per day for the rest of my life COVID or not.
“I can’t afford that without insurance. I don’t know anyone else who can.
“A car accident doesn’t care how much it costs to take the ambulance to the hospital. COVID doesn’t care how much it costs to keep you on a respirator. And it’s clear now that President Trump doesn’t care either. His continuing attacks on the ACA, his refusal to put forth any plan, even while he’s attacking coverage for pre-existing conditions, even when he’s trying to get rid of lifetime limits. It shows that he cares more about corporate profits than he does about people. He doesn’t care whether my daughter has a mom who’s healthy enough to care for her.”
On public safety: “Maybe this is a mom answer, but I don’t know how you say that you’re not going to listen to the election of the American people and maybe not cede power in any sort of peaceful way and call yourself the law and order president. I mean, I don’t know how you don’t pay attention to what the FDA guidance is about a safe vaccine and call yourself the law and order president. It’s not real. It’s a distraction.