Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. This narrow victory was the culmination of efforts that began with President Truman and was championed by Democrats in decades since. But after President Johnson achieved passage of Medicare and Medicaid, not much progress had been made until President Obama made it his top priority.

Despite fierce and often disingenuous Republican opposition, the ACA passed without a single Republican vote in either house of Congress. But ten years later the majority of Americans viewed the ACA favorably.

Today, the ACA is a huge success story in Maryland. Before implementation of the ACA ramped up with the creation of the Health Benefit Exchange the percentage of the population that was uninsured was 12%; today that number is 6%, one of the lowest rates of uninsured in the nation.

But Andy Harris – who made a comfortable living as an anesthesiologist and is covered by a gold-plated congressional insurance plan – doesn’t like the ACA and has repeatedly attempted to repeal and/or cripple it.

Can you chip in $10 to help me defeat Andy Harris and protect and expand the ACA?

This despite the fact that a higher percentage of his constituents on the Eastern Shore remain without health insurance than the rest of the state, as shown below.

Andy Harris doesn’t represent his constituents. He represents private health care companies, big pharma, and special interests that stand to benefit from a large uninsured population.

Commonsense problem solving is not something he has any interest in participating in. He is a weak and ineffectual leader whose main goal is to attain and maintain power; and, he must be stopped.

I’ll work in Congress to build on the ACA and other health programs to continue to improve coverage and make healthcare more available and affordable for all of us. In the next few weeks, I’ll be rolling out some ideas for achieving that. But first, any support you can provide will help speed up that process. Can you contribute any amount today to help me get to Congress and work to defend and improve the ACA?

Thanks so much,

Dave