Kean’s real record on Healthcare

(Bridgewater, NJ) — In Sunday night’s candidate forum, Tom Kean, Jr. claimed to have a “long record of reaching across the aisle and finding solutions in the healthcare space.” He certainly has a long record in Trenton, but not of finding solutions.

Even as Kean claims to care about protecting those with pre-existing conditions, his record shows the opposite. In 2010 he backed Governor Christie’s lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees those protections. In 2012, he voted twice against setting up state healthcare exchanges, to help New Jerseyans find insurance plans. In 2013 he voted against public awareness campaigns, to increase awareness for signup deadlines. And today, he proudly supports President Trump as he sues to throw the ACA out and toss millions of American’s off their insurance in the middle of a pandemic–an outcome all but guaranteed by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.

“[The Affordable Care Act] is the law that protects pre-existing conditions,” Malinowski said at the forum. “Republicans like Senator Kean like to say, ‘Oh, we’re for pre-existing conditions,’ but they’re not for the law that protects them.”

Kean’s record contradicts his hollow healthcare platitudes. For 20 years in Trenton he’s raked in nearly $1,000,000 from healthcare and pharmaceutical special interests, and he’s put them ahead of New Jerseyans every time–voting against protecting New Jerseyans from surprise medical bills, and voting to cut funding for a program that helps seniors and individuals with disabilities afford their prescription drugs.

At the last debate, Kean even parroted pharmaceutical industry talking points to attack Congressman Malinowski’s plan to lower prescription drug prices. The Star Ledger called his claims, “100 percent fraudulent.”