McSally ad claiming ‘I will always protect those with preexisting conditions’ rated ‘False’

It was true in 2018, and is still true today.

The Huffington Post recently reported that Republican candidates around the country are doing precisely what Donald Trump has been doing: Lying about their records on preexisting conditions — again. Buried deep in this report, we finally come to Arizona’s appointed, not elected, Senator Martha McSally:

In Arizona, GOP Sen. Martha McSally has made multiple statements along the lines of “health insurance should always cover preexisting conditions,” including a boast in a campaign ad that, “I will always protect those with preexisting conditions ― always.”

Politifact rated this campaign ad “false.”

And yet I have seen this ad air multiple times this month on television. If it is false, why are local television stations and Cox Cable in Tucson airing it? Don’t they have an obligation to pull a demonstrably false ad?

There is also an excellent response ad to McSally’s false ad airing on television from a new Democratic super PAC called Change Now, supported by a coalition of Democratic groups, including the Service Employees International Union and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Victory Fund. I am sure that you have seen it.

Unfortunately, I am unable to find a copy this ad after multiple internet searches, it does not appear to be posted anywhere online (If you are able to find a link to this ad, please post it in the comments with my thanks to you for your effort). As good as this fact checking ad is, one would think that Change Now would want it to air to a wider audience.

This is the same McSally who, as a House member in 2017, famously rallied her colleagues to vote yes on repeal by telling the caucus it was time to get this “fucking thing” done.

McSally, who was also running for the Senate back then, spent the next year denying she’d tried to gut preexisting condition protections. Voters saw through the lie, with a little help from the media, and that’s one reason she ended up losing her 2018 race. The state’s governor ended up appointing her to fill the state’s other seat, which was vacant, and she’s now running in a special election for the remaining two years on the term.

Polls show McSally trailing her Democratic opponent, former astronaut Mark Kelly, who has been pounding away at her record, just as polls show Trump trailing Biden in the White House race.

The Washington Post Fact checker has called out McSally for a “mislead[ing]” defense of her record of voting to eliminate pre-existing condition coverage protections.

McSally last week confirmed to NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard that she is standing by Republicans’ lawsuit to dismantle not just pre-existing condition coverage, but the entirety of “Obamacare.”

This lawsuit, California v. Texas, No. 19-840, was pushed back from an October argument due the Supreme Court suspending its calendar earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It has not yet been scheduled for oral argument, but it will conveniently occur after election day.

Maybe the solicitor general should allow Martha McSally to argue this case, she could tell the Supreme Court “Let’s get this fucking thing done!”

The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that about 27 million Americans in total are at risk of losing health insurance coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, and could be left struggling with COVID-19 or other illnesses – a preexisting condition – along with a lack of income that can make paying medical bills nearly impossible.

And if “Obamacare” is repealed in its entirety, it could strip 23.3 million Americans of their health coverage, according to new Center for American Progress analysis. The Health Care Repeal Lawsuit Could Strip Coverage from 23 Million Americans.

Your heartless and cruel Republican Party at work.