Biden preps new offensive against Trump on health care

Joe Biden’s campaign is preparing a fresh attack against Donald Trump that will center on a familiar issue: health care.

The president’s reelection team is rolling out new messaging that accuses the GOP frontrunner of harboring a “vendetta” against popular policies that have expanded health coverage, according to details first shared with POLITICO.

The push will emphasize Trump’s vow to try again to repeal the Affordable Care Act if elected, a move that would put insurance for millions at risk and dovetail with Republican support for restricting abortion and eliminating caps on prescription drug costs.

"The contrast is quite stark," said TJ Ducklo, senior communications adviser for the campaign. "Joe Biden will protect and expand Obamacare — and Donald Trump has tried to rip it away and promised to try to again if given the chance."

Democrats have enjoyed a clear advantage with voters on health issues ever since Trump tried and failed to repeal the ACA, racking up electoral gains in 2018 and 2020 by running on promises to expand the law and make coverage more affordable.

Now, with a presidential rematch all but cemented, Biden advisers are betting they can use the same playbook to batter Trump again. The campaign in the coming weeks plans to spotlight Trump’s suggestion late last year that he'd seek to repeal and replace the ACA. The effort would particularly play up the threat to specific provisions like the law's pre-existing condition protections and the ability of children to stay on their parents' health care until age 26.

Those are benefits that Democrats and Independents rallied around in the past, and Ducklo said the campaign's indications are that they remain "incredibly salient with the voters who will decide this election."

The effort to spotlight Trump’s health agenda will be part of a broader offensive aimed at amplifying Trump's most divisive policy positions, which the Biden campaign has dubbed "Project 2025." That's a reference to a much-scrutinized blueprint for a GOP presidency compiled by the Heritage Foundation, and a moniker that campaign advisers say they now want to adopt as a catch-all for what they warn life would be like under Trump.

The focus on Trump's agenda also comes as Biden is set to make his own health care platform a central element of Thursday’s State of the Union address, where he's expected to emphasize the differences between his vision for a second term and the priorities of Republicans.

Biden plans to tout Democratic legislation that caps drug costs for older Americans and permits Medicare to negotiate the price of certain drugs for the first time ever. He may also spotlight record ACA enrollment spurred in part by measures expanding the law’s subsidies.

The White House will soon propose expanding the number of drugs that Medicare can eventually negotiate from 20 to 50, senior administration officials said Wednesday.

That’s an expansion that the divided Congress is unlikely to take up before November. But campaign officials argue that Biden’s existing health accomplishments already rank among the most popular parts of his platform — and can be contrasted sharply in the months to come against a Trump health record that voters widely detest.

"We should take him seriously," Ducklo said of the prospect of Trump taking aim at the ACA and other health laws. "When he made outlandish and extreme threats during the first campaign, he followed through."