Biden focuses on health care costs in new battleground ad launching in Arizona

The future of health care is on the line in November, and some 3 million Arizonans could see their costs skyrocket — if they can find coverage at all — if Donald Trump returns to the White House, according to the latest ad by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

In the new ad, which begins airing statewide on broadcast and cable television today, Biden hopes to draw a contrast between Trump’s desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act — “We want to terminate it,” the former president says in the ad — and the 46th president’s plan to protect the landmark health insurance law and expand affordable health care access.

“Health care should be a basic right,” Biden says in the 30-second ad. “Folks, he’s coming for your health care, and we’re not going to let it happen.”

The new ad is part of a $14 million blitz in battleground states that the Biden campaign says will last through the end of May. 

“During his first term, Donald Trump was just one vote away from repealing the Affordable Care Act, which more than 1 million Arizonans rely on to access health care,” said Sean McEnerney, the Arizona Democratic coordinated campaign manager. “Now, Trump is campaigning on a threat to take away health care from the folks who need it the most, like seniors, and jeopardize protections for people with preexisting conditions. This November, Arizonans will send a clear message to Trump: hands off our health care.”

In Arizona, a record number of people are now getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplace. A total of 348,055 people in Arizona found a plan for 2024 via Obamacare on healthcare.gov, the federal health care exchange that allows people to shop and compare insurance plans. And more than 730,000 are on Arizona’s Medicaid program, known as AHCCCS, because the state expanded coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Another 2.8 million Arizonans have coverage for preexisting conditions because of the Affordable Care Act’s mandates. 

Nationwide, more than 21.3 million Americans purchased insurance through the national and state marketplaces — a bump of 9 million people from when Biden took office.

One of the chief reasons for that is the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included provisions to increase subsidies for insurance. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that 90% of enrollees qualified for some kind of subsidy and roughly four out of five customers were eligible to purchase a plan for less than $10 a month.

In November 2023, Trump posted on Truth Social that Republicans should “never give up” trying to repeal the law.

“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare,” Trump declared. “I’m seriously looking at alternatives.”

Health care isn’t the most important issue for most voters, but it consistently ranks high — particularly for voters who are Democrats or lean Democratic. A February 2024 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the Affordable Care Act continues to be more popular than it was prior to Republican attempts to repeal it in 2017, with 59% expressing a favorable view. A majority of independents want the law to be expanded (48%) or kept as is (18%)

Large shares also said they worry about being able to afford basic living expenses, with health care cost concerns topping the list. Unexpected medical bills and the cost of health care services are the top financial worries across party lines. At least 7 in 10 Democrats and Republicans say they are “very” or “somewhat worried” about being able to afford the cost of health care services or unexpected medical bills for themselves and their family.

The poll also found that neither Biden nor Trump has a clear advantage on health care issues, with voters divided along partisan lines on which candidate did more when they were president to address health care costs. Independents are split nearly evenly.