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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited Raleigh on March 26 to discuss health care. EOT's Ellie Feaga provides clips from their speeches and talks to some audience members.
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What is Eye on the Triangle?
Eye on the Triangle is WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2’s weekly public affairs programming with news, interviews, opinion, weather, sports, arts, music, events and issues that matter to NC State, Raleigh and the Triangle.
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Good morning. This is a very special episode of Eye on the Triangle. As many of you know, President Biden and Vice President Harris came to visit Raleigh two weeks ago to discuss affordable health care. And I had the privilege to go on behalf of WKNC. I will of course give you the highlights of both speeches. But before we get into that, I interviewed a couple other viewers of the press conference to get their thoughts on the upcoming speech. Can each of you tell me your first and last name?
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I'm Chris Corapetti.
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Aria Marmraj.
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Avini Marmraj
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Ria Corapetti.
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nice to meet you all. Who are you representing? Um, we're here with Ben iReady. He's the speechwriter. Oh, awesome. Are you all in high school? Yeah, I'm in seventh grade. Not all you're in seventh grade. That's amazing. What college? Do you go to NC State? Okay, me too. I'm with NC State's radio station. WKNC. Well, it's great that you guys are here. Is there anything you're especially looking forward to seeing?
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We're excited for this speech? We really want to I think affordable health care is a really important problem in the country. So it's a it's a really exciting speech.
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Well, it's great to meet you guys and glad that you're here and I hope you enjoy it. What is your name?
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My name is tele animashaun.
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What are you looking most forward to from hearing the President's speech today?
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I'm definitely interested in hearing about the Affordable Health Care. I think that is something that is super important as being someone that got kicked off my mom's insurance like last year, it's been extremely hard for me even to want to go to the doctor because it's so expensive. For literally everything's I think healthcare is like what I'm looking at here for, you know, again, hearing a little bit about, like student debt.
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I hope you're looking forward to hearing it. I certainly am. So it was great to meet you. You too. Thank you. Also in attendance of this event was Governor Roy Cooper, and North Carolina's Attorney General Josh Stein, here's a bid from Stein.
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This past Saturday, we marked the 40th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming the law of the land. Now nearly 1 million North Carolinians have health insurance. Now more than 4 million North Carolinians with pre existing conditions, breathe easier knowing that insurance companies can no longer discriminate against them.
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And now without further ado, here are the highlights from the comments by Vice President Harris followed by President Biden.
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Please have a seat, everyone, please have a seat. So we agree that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. Yes. And guided by that fundamental belief, over the past three years, President Biden and I have made health care more accessible, and more affordable for millions of Americans. We cut the cost of prescription drugs for millions of seniors, we expanded access to Medicare and Medicaid. We made the largest investment in Youth Mental Health in history. With 14,000 new mental health counselors in schools across our nation, including hundreds right here in North Carolina, and we strengthened the Affordable Care Act so that today, more Americans have health care coverage than ever before in the history of our country. We have also taken on the crisis, the healthcare crisis of maternal mortality
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because in the 21st century in the United States of America, it should not be the case that women were die in connection with childbirth at a higher rate than women in any other wealthy nation in the world. as black women, that black women are three times as likely to die in connection with pregnancy, native women are twice as likely to die in connection with pregnancy, and more times as likely to die. It is also the case that one of the most significant factors that contributes to this crisis of maternal mortality is that millions of women in America do not have access to adequate postpartum care. In fact, when we took office, in most states, women on Medicaid, were only entitled to two months of coverage for postpartum care. Two months, and only three states when we took office, only three states in our nation offered 12 months of postpartum care. And I am proud North Carolina to report so far a total of 45 states have now completed that challenge. They are extremist in our country, trying to take away health care coverage, or make it more expensive extremists who want to take away coverage from our seniors by trying to cut Social Security and Medicare. They want to take away coverage for working families by trying to get Medicaid and they want to take away coverage for people with pre existing conditions, but continuously trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And across our nation extremist attack, or women's access to health care and reproductive health care. They have proposed and passed laws that criminalize doctors and punish women. Laws that threaten doctors and nurses with prison time even for life simply for providing reproductive care. The clinics that extremists are forcing to close they provide so much more than abortion care. They provide breast cancer screenings, contraceptive care, paps essential life saving care being denied to millions of women across our country. So and where I begin access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege, no matter who you are. Where you live, or how much you earn
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Hello, hello hello. Oh have you seen around especially thank you credible government word Cooper by the way, was incredible government. First thing Kristen Cooper, welcome us today and for their friendship.
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I think of a Cooper's I think of one word and I mean sincerely, highest compromise. Anybody who's ever been elected to office, they have enormous integrity. Because Roy Cooper, never gave up North Carolina and finally extended the expanding Medicare coverage, which already is helping 400,000 North Carolinians so far 400,000. all by itself is a heck of a legacy. I also want to thank you, Attorney General Josh Stein, we defended ACA. We fought to expand Medicaid as well. was an outstanding leader and folks, speaking of great leaders and legacies 14 years ago, this week, I stood by President Obama when he signed the Affordable Care Act and the law, Obamacare. And as many of you know, I thought it was a big deal. For young people out there before ACA, you can kick off your parents health care plans, before you turn 26. Just as you're heading out on your own, a lot of change for somebody other people they couldn't get a job or start your own business because he couldn't risk losing health care they had where they were. And imagine this prior to ACA, many insurance companies impose lifetime caps on how much coverage you choose policy and give you lifetime caps that many cancer patients go through chemo may wish to cap an insurance cut out by enacted tax credits save an average of $800 per person per year, reducing healthcare premiums for millions of working families through the Affordable Care Act. Those tax credits expire next year and calling on Congress to make that $800 expanded affordable health care tax credit permanent. Otherwise known of Americans without coverage could lose their coverage. Folks, it's because we're making the ACA stronger and more affordable AC your ACA is breaking records today. Anyone can get affordable coverage through the ACA and 80% 80% of the folks on the ACA plan, I can get a plan for $10 a month. My Republican Congress just proposed a plan, the real power of Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drugs, which could drive the cost of insulin back to 400 bucks a month instead of 35 for seniors, and so much more. They plan to slash Medicaid as a result, close and close out 100 rural hospitals, hundreds General Hospital, hospitals make it and make it because of the health care plans that are pre made available through the ACA. That's how we can afford to stay open. So many across the country will plan to closing because they couldn't keep it open. They couldn't afford to stay open. Republican plan would deny millions of seniors with diabetes, access to quality long term care to get now under Medicaid. That includes 30 million children, you now have access to Medicaid, the risk of losing that coverage as well. As we all know, we're going after women as well. Trump proudly says quote, after 50 years, no come close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade. That's a statement you've seen on television, where he's talking about how Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade. He says it has to be punishment for women exercising the reproductive freedom. Trump or neither Republican responsible for the chaos and follow now calling for a national ban on choice for every state in every state, not just what folks from America sends me a Congress that are Democrats, I promise you calm and I will restore Roe v. Wade is the law of the land.
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For the leadership of President Obama, we made history in the Affordable Care Act. While there are those who want to take us back in time, all of us together determined to move us forward. And here's the future. I see. I see a future we defend democracy not diminished democracy. I see a future where healthcare is a right. And we restore the freedom to choose and protect the freedoms not to not take it away. I see a future the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy began to pay their fair share. And commerce aren't making much further by nomics anymore. They can maybe it works to build from the bottom up. The wealthy can still be very wealthy billionaires around America. There's now 1000 millionaires, you know what the average tax they pay federal tax, April 2%.
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To try to debate over tax
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progress, if they just played 25% is not the highest bracket by a longshot 25% You know what that would do? That would raise 40 $400 billion over the next 10 years. Imagine we could do that. We can fundamentally show slash the federal deficit we can make sure there's homecare, but we have so many things consequential, including finally making sure that we take care of Ukraine from which
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I see a future where we save the planet from the economy crisis in our country from gun violence, above all future for all Americans, for our country of all Americans, now always be present for all Americans. I've never been more optimistic about our future. I know I'm only 40 years old. times to press one. For question number one, constantly consuming, I'll end with this with the United States of America. You know, I'm seeing this with the United States of America. We not only country in the world that's come out of every crisis stronger than we went in the only country in the world. There's nothing beyond our capacity, we react together. Not a single thing. This is the United States of America. Let's get together and get it done. God bless you all. May God protect our church
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and those were the highlights. Thank you for listening. And again, thank you WKNC for sending me it was a once in a lifetime opera. timidity and privilege and Happy Monday. This has been Elio Eye on the Triangle
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This has been Eye on the Triangle. I'm Erie Mitchell, your guest host right now. Thank you so much for listening to this. You can listen to back episodes of Eye on the Triangle at wknc.org/podcasts under Eye on the Triangle or just any of the other podcasts we have on WKNC. Thank you so much.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai