IA-03, VA-02: Iowa Rep. David Young's newest ad epitomizes the kind of healthcare strategy we've seen from Republicans in battlegrounds across the nation. The narrator claims that the congressman is being smeared by false attacks and "has always fought for protect Iowans with pre-existing conditions." She doesn't go into any more detail and certainly doesn't mention that Young voted for the House's version of Trumpcare, she just moves on to claiming that Democrat Cindy Axne "and her liberal allies support government—run healthcare that experts say will cost $32 trillion." The narrator also charges that "their plan" ends "Medicare as we know it" for seniors.
We've already explained that the $32 trillion price-tag the GOP claims single-payer healthcare will cost comes from a Koch-funded study that also found that Americans would save $2 trillion over a decade because they would no longer have to pay private insurance premiums. However, the Washington Post's Dave Weigel points out that that Axne isn't even calling for single-payer, and instead is in favor a public option health care. Of course, as we've seen in many ads and will see again, the GOP is simply hoping that if they yell loudly enough that they want to protect coverage for pre-existing conditions while Democrats want to destroy Medicare, enough voters will eventually fall for it.
Over in Virginia, the NRCC tries a similar tactic against Democrat Elaine Luria, but they do a clumsy job at it. The spot just shows 30 seconds of a shark fin sticking out of the water as narrator declares that Luria is a "stealth candidate" who has "quietly promised something radical and dangerous." He goes on to insist that Luria "backs a gateway to a government takeover of health care." But for all this vivid imagery, the actual ad is pretty dull, especially since the shark never does rise beyond the water. (It’s still better than some of the Jaws sequels, though.)
Like Axne, Luria supports a public option rather than Medicare for all. However, the GOP is hoping that they can just use the word "gateway" to convince voters that Luria will lead to the nightmarish future they claim is in store if Democrats are not stopped.