Health care workers, patient advocates, and elected officials who are part of the sixth biennial “Lower Costs, Better Care” bus tour stopped in Denver on October 25 to rally support for policies that expand access to health care and abortion services.
The tour is designed to highlight the dangers of a second Donald Trump presidency for America’s health care system.
Speakers included Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper and fellow Colorado Democratic U.S. Reps. Brittany Petersen and Yadira Caraveo. Petersen and Caraveo are up for election this year, and both have been running ads about their plans to protect Coloradans’ access to health care services.
In August, a Colorado Consumer Health Initiative poll found that 68% of Coloradans postponed medical or dental care over the last year because of the cost. About four-in-ten Coloradans who did receive care said they struggled to pay for it, and 83% of respondents said they were worried about their ability to afford health care in the future.
About 59% of voters in Colorado think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center.
“We need to support elected officials at every level who fight for access to health care,” Hickenlooper said at the event.
The “Lower Costs, Better Care” tour started in late September and finishes in Pennsylvania on the Friday before election Day. The bus, also known as Care Force One, will travel to 17 states and make about 50 stops, covering Minnesota, New Mexico, California, and New Hampshire along the way.
The stop in Denver happened at a time when more health care and abortion access initiatives are appearing on state ballots, including Colorado’s, than ever before. Meanwhile, elected leaders at all levels seem to be offering radically different policy approaches to the two issues.
This year, Colorado voters will decide on Amendment 79, which would add abortion protections to Colorado’s constitution. It would also make it harder for lawmakers to change the law in the future. It also opens up the door for public funds to support abortion access.
Data from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office shows that the Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, an advocacy group that supports Amendment 79, has raised more than $7.3 million. Cobalt Advocates, a pro-choice group, has donated over $500,000 in the last week to support the issue.
Campaign finance records show that Pro-Life Colorado, an advocacy group opposing Amendment 79, has raised just over $220,000.
Yadira Caraveo has been a staunch supporter of abortion rights since she was elected to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District in 2023. She has co-sponsored legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act, which sought to create federal abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Caraveo also introduced a resolution affirming the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to approve abortion-related medications.
“We’re lucky to be in a state where women don’t have to worry about accessing the full slate of health care services available to them, but we must keep fighting so that all women across the country have the same access,” Caraveo said at the tour event.
Caraveo’s challenger, Republican Gabe Evans, has been more elusive about his position on abortion rights. During the HD-8 debate on October 17, Evans said he does not support a national abortion ban but would not commit to supporting exceptions for terminating a pregnancy before viability. He has also expressed support for repealing the Affordable Care Act because it didn’t do enough to address rising costs, he said during a debate with Caraveo on October 17.
Rep. Petersen, who is 6.5 months pregnant, added, “it’s hard to believe where we were before the Affordable Care Act was passed.” At the time, insurance companies would not cover people with pre-existing conditions, leaving millions uninsured. Because of the market dynamics, people also faced high out-of-pocket costs for care.
“This is not just about affordability, it’s about access,” Petersen said.
Advocates said that these are fights that Democrats are willing to wage at every level of government. On the presidential campaign trail, Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed to protect abortion rights and reproductive health care, including restoring the Roe v. Wade protections and promising to veto a national abortion ban if it reached her desk. These stances helped earn her endorsements from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF), the Committee to Protect Health Care, and Reproductive Freedom for All.
While Harris has not officially released her health care plan details, she can build on the progress made during President Joe Biden’s administration. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s administration capped the price of insulin at $35 and allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Senior drug costs will also be capped at $2,000 beginning in January 2025.
Donald Trump and his allies, on the other hand, have tried to kill the ACA multiple times to no avail. Trump has claimed to have “concepts” of a health care plan, which includes scrapping the Affordable Care Act, although he has not announced plans to replace it with a different system.
In 2015, when he began campaigning for president, he said the law has “gotta go.” When he was in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump consistently tried to kneecap the ACA by making it harder for people to sign up for health care and allowing “junk” insurers to operate in the market. Then there was John McCain’s infamous thumbs-down vote in 2017 when Republicans tried to repeal the ACA, a move that continues to rattle inside Trump.
“Obamacare is a catastrophe. Nobody talks about it. You know, without John McCain, we would have had it done,” Trump said earlier this year.
The Committee to Protect Health Care PAC sent a letter to the Trump campaign demanding that he release his plans ahead of the election so voters can make “informed decisions” about his candidacy. More than 1,500 physicians across the country cosigned the letter.
“Mr. Trump has either refused or simply failed to share any concrete plans for improving the ACA, including in the most recent debate. Our patients and Americans nationwide deserve to know what would be in store for their health care in a second Trump presidency…,” the letter reads in part.
