Make no mistake, health care is on the ballot this fall. And the future of Obamacare hangs in the balance. The Supreme Court is holding arguments on Obamacare right after the election and Trump is rushing to confirm a Supreme Court justice who opposes it. Governor Sununu has said the process on this justice should move forward right now. Both Governor Sununu and President Trump have a long history of wanting to repeal Obamacare. Both have been unsuccessful. In fact, when so-called “Trumpcare” (i.e. the repeal of Obamacare without any replacement), passed the US House, Governor Sununu called it a “huge win”. Fortunately, Sen. Hassan and Sen. Shaheen as well as Senators like the late John McCain dealt Sununu and Trump a huge loss by voting against the repeal of Obamacare. Now, they are trying to repeal Obamacare through the Supreme Court.

If Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court is confirmed Obamacare will get repealed. Obamacare’s repeal will rip away health insurance from hundreds of thousands of Granite Staters, imperil protections for pre-existing conditions, and get rid of Medicaid expansion, one of our best weapons in our fight against the worsening opioid epidemic. Just like Trump, Sununu does not have a plan to protect Granite Staters’ health care. It’s no surprise, Sununu calls himself: “a Trump guy, through and through.” I have a plan to protect health care for the people of New Hampshire.

My plan builds off my work in the State Senate where I fought to expand access to health care, including reproductive care. I fought to include additional resources for reproductive health care centers in the state budget and backfill the lost funding from the Trump administration’s unjust Title X Gag rule. I led the charge on bipartisan legislation to allow the importation of safe, low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and the most progressive price cap on insulin in the country, limiting the cost of insulin to $30 per month. I also led the effort to help assist lower-income seniors falling into a coverage gap. Unfortunately, Chris Sununu unilaterally eliminated this prescription drug relief program for low-income seniors. Sununu vetoed legislation to get rid of insurance costs for COVID-19 testing as well as financial help for nursing homes and assisted living facilities grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks. And Sununu has refused to stand up children’s behavioral health care services I led on, leading to children waiting in emergency rooms across the state for mental health care. In the midst of a major pandemic, we need to be expanding access to crucial health care services and providers, not cutting it or siding with health insurance companies. We cannot afford any more of the Trump/Sununu agenda focused on blocking funding for reproductive health care, ripping health care away from people when they need it most, and siding with the insurance industry resulting in higher costs for working families.

I’ll always stand up for working families. Unlike Sununu, I didn’t grow up in a family of politicians, and I was never gifted a ski resort. My dad worked in a furniture factory – the same unairconditioned furniture factory doing roughly the same job every day for 45 years. My mom worked part-time jobs, including the night shift, while raising four kids. And right out of law school I served as a legal aid attorney with New Hampshire Legal Assistance for about a decade, fighting for health care access and health affordability for working families, veterans, and persons with disabilities. My life has been dedicated to advancing access to affordable health care.

Under Sununu, New Hampshire already has the highest co-pays, highest premiums, and highest deductibles anywhere in the United States. Trump and Sununu have taken millions from the health insurance and drug companies, and, like Trump, Sununu supports repealing Obamacare which would devastate our economy and our health care, in the midst of a pandemic. It’s time for a change. It’s time to finally say “No” to these constant efforts to repeal our health care and say “No” to the rollback of reproductive rights. We can’t go backward. I respectfully ask for your vote. Together, we can and we will move forward on health care, for everyone.

Dan Feltes represents New Hampshire’s 15th District in the state Senate. He also is a candidate for governor.