Mike Pence is in Arizona today. He was here a couple of times earlier in the month.
Donald Trump has been here several times this month as well at super spreader COVID 19 events masquerading as campaign rallies.
When the Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential Nominees are campaigning in Arizona (and Georgia) with days to go before the Presidential Election, the Democratic Presidential Ticket and their allies are happy.
Democrats are also happy that states like Arizona, Georgia, and Texas are becoming increasingly purple and bluer.
The issues that have accelerated these trends are the Trump Administration (and Republicans) attacks on health care and, by extension, their mishandling of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
These issues also encompass the economic inequality that has grown among the American People.
With four days to go and the number of COVID 19 cases rising in Arizona and setting records across the country, the Arizona Democratic Party hosted an event where three people with firsthand knowledge of how Trump’s attacks on health care and mishandling COVID 19 has affected them and others in the state, offered their perspective and support for the Biden/Harris Ticket.
The first speaker was Sondy Springmann, a University of Arizona Graduate Student who greatly benefited from the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare.)
Diagnosed with a major illness at age 24, Ms. Springman expressed the predicament she faced, saying:
“Do I spend a ton of money and get insurance coverage and go bankrupt or do I get sicker and die? That was a horrible choice…”
In the insurance she obtained, she faced several health care restrictions. She was limited to three specialist visits a year and had a maximum pharmacy benefit of $2500.00
The Affordable Care Act changed Ms. Springmann’s life for the better:
She relayed:
“With ACA, I had all these protections for my health care. Insurance Companies could not deny me or charge me more because I had Pre-Existing Conditions. I was no longer subject to annual caps in the care I received or lifetime caps on the insurance. I was able to be self-employed for several years and get good health care…. Living with ACA has been great.”
Springmann said that “a world without the ACA is absolutely terrifying.”
She pointed out that the 250,000 Arizonans and millions of other Americans that have COVID 19 may now have a new preexisting condition. “What happens to them if ACA goes away,” she asked.
She reminded the viewers that Republicans for years worked to repeal the ACA without a viable replacement.
She then zeroed in on the efforts of Martha McSally, stating:
“Even Martha McSally when she was in the House when she was voting to repeal, she said let’s let this thing die.”
Springmann called for improving the ACA rather than working to destroy it.
She concluded by saying:
“As someone who has had a chronic illness for over a decade at this point, living under the ACA has been great. I haven’t had to worry about access to health care. … Looking at an America without the Affordable Care Act is not a place I want to live.”
Dr. Laura de la Torre, a Tucson area physician, was the second speaker to present her views.
Dr. de la Torre has treated some of the 229,000 Americans that have died from COVID 19.
She spent most of her time condemning Trump and Pence for their mishandling of the Coronavirus.
Dr. de la Torre pointed out that Mr. Pence, the person in charge of the Coronavirus task force, has failed so miserably at that task that five of his staff have contracted COVID 19.
She chastised Mark Meadows for saying that the Administration is not working to control the pandemic.
In her comments, she also said.
“I have seen how Trump’s failure to respond to this pandemic (by downplaying it and making ignorant comments like advising the taking of disinfectants) has devastated people in Tucson and Arizona.”
She also rebuked Trump for nominating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, saying:
“Instead of helping the people, he rushed through a Supreme Court Nominee that could vote to take their health care away in the middle of a pandemic.”
Dr. de la Torre concluded her comments by stating:
“I don’t get why Trump does this. He attacks experts. He attacks science. He has behaved chaotic and he is making the Coronavirus Crisis worst. He flat out tells lies and he is failing to contain this virus. So, since when does the American Head of State have such a blatant disregard for the health of his citizenry and get away with it. I’m ready for a change. I’m ready for someone with intelligence, compassion, and competency at the top…Arizonans deserve better. Americans deserve better…We need leaders that will put human beings first and that’s Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
The final speaker at the Arizona Democratic Party hosted event was Sarah Benatar, the Coconino County Treasurer.
She focused more on the socio-economic aspects of the Trump/Pence Administration’s attacks on health care and failure to combat the Coronavirus.
Ms. Benatar’s opening comments included:
“Trump’s failure to address this pandemic has hurt not just health-wise but economically in Arizona and the United States as a whole.”
She noted the disproportionate share of workers in the service sector displaced by the virus-like “hotel workers, restaurant workers, those in retail are really being hit hard.”
She added: “They can lose not just their wages but their homes. They are struggling to feed their families and with that comes a risk of losing access to health care in the middle of a global pandemic.”
Ms. Benatar also noted that Trump and Pence were ignoring the severity of the Pandemic, saying,
“Yesterday we had over 90,000 cases in the country. We broke a record. We should not be breaking records. That’s for every second in the day yesterday, somebody tested positive for COVID… We’re about to go into a very dark winter and that is going to be dark from a health perspective and an economic perspective as well.” She noted small businesses have been hit the hardest, commenting,”
“In Arizona, we have over 590,000 small businesses, 100,000 of which are Latino-owned. Small businesses have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. Small businesses are having to decide whether they keep their doors open or if they have to close to feed their own family. The economic fallout from this pandemic is going to continue. We deserve better. We deserve a leader who is going to say we need to take care of our working Americans. We need to take care of our families. And we cannot take care of the economy until we take care of the health aspects of this pandemic. In order to address the economy, we first have to address the pandemic. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a plan” for both “to bring us out of this dark hole we’re in.”
Ms. Benatar concluded by calling on people to turn out and vote, saying,
“We have four days left. We need to go vote…We want change. Arizonans want a leader that’s going to care for them and that’s why they’re voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
Please click here to see the full event.
The Trump/Pence administration and their Republican allies have failed in health care and handling the Coronavirus.
They have:
- Worked to take away the Affordable Care Act over the last ten years without the better and cheaper replacement Mr. Trump has been telling people for four years he has (where is it?) This is more repulsive that they are continuing these efforts by supporting a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to get rid of Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic.
- Mishandled combatting COVID 19 by not adopting a national plan of action for testing and contact tracing.
- Put a Supreme Court Nomination ahead of passing vitally needed COVID 19 relief legislation.
As Ms. Springmann, Dr. de la Torre, and Treasurer Benatar have said, a change in direction for Arizonans and all Americans is needed.
By November 3, vote for the campaign that will fight the virus, rebuild the economy and bring the American People together.
Please remember:
- The General Election Day is on November 3. 2020. Please see the below graphic for all-important voting dates.
- Please check your voter registration at vote.
- heck-in with the Secretary of State’s office where you live to verify your mail-in ballot was received, processed, verified, and counted.
- Know the voter ID requirements in your state.
- If you can, support Clean Election Candidates with a small contribution.
- Also, please remember to stay informed on all the candidates and vote for all the offices on the ballot.
- Also, remember to research all the ballot initiatives, sign to get them on the ballot if you support the measure, and vote on them as well.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.