Add Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) to the list of Democrats attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for saying Obamacare should be repealed but Kentucky’s Obamacare exchange, Kynect, should stay in place.
That statement by McConnell’s campaign has sparked criticism by both the Lexington Herald Leader editorial board and Jonathan Hurst, the campaign manager for Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who’s running against McConnell.
Here’s Beshear’s response, passed to TPM on Wednesday in response to questions about McConnell’s position:
Eliminating ACA means that folks with pre-existing conditions will struggle to find coverage, young adults won’t be able to stay on their parents’ coverage, women won’t be treated equally by insurers and federal subsidies for Kentuckians will end. Senator McConnell either doesn’t understand what the ACA is, or is just trying to mislead Kentucky families for his political benefit at their expense.
Beshear has been widely praised for setting up Kynect, which is often regarded as the model for state-based marketplaces created through Obamacare.