Sen. J.D. Vance at a 2022 election watch party. Photo: Andrew Spear/Getty Images
Sen. J.D. Vance doesn't adhere to traditional GOP orthodoxy on health care, staking out populist positions on issues like drug pricing while shying away from a full-throated repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
- Here's a closer look at where he stands:
Drug prices: Vance said in 2022 that he supports negotiating drug prices.
- "I think we have to let Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices so that our seniors aren't paying through the roof for prescription drugs," he told AARP.
- In the same interview, he also called for allowing importation of drugs from overseas.
- Vance is also a cosponsor of legislation to cap insulin costs in the commercial market at $35.
Affordable Care Act: Vance wasn't in Congress during the GOP's failed repeal effort in 2017 and he broke with some of the party line in a recent interview with Semafor.
- He told the outlet last fall that key parts of the ACA like protections for pre-existing conditions are "broadly popular."
- "I don't think there's any effort to try to change them. I think there is a recognition though that we spend a lot of money and we don't get a whole lot out of our healthcare system relative to some of our peer countries," Vance said.
Abortion: During his Senate campaign, Vance ran as a staunchly "pro-life" candidate and he also campaigned actively against Ohio's 2023 constitutional ballot measure that guaranteed the right to abortion. He's also said he'd vote for a nationwide abortion ban at 15 weeks.
- After the Ohio ballot measure was approved, Vance wrote in an extensive post on X that political reality shows that voters want exceptions in abortion restrictions, and with that stance the "pro life view has a fighting chance."
- Vance told NBC's Kristen Welker in a July 7 interview that he did support access to the abortion pill mifepristone. This was soon after Trump said during the debate that he supported the Supreme Court's recent decision not to restrict access to the abortion pill.
Gender-affirming care: Vance introduced legislation in 2023 that would ban minors from receiving access to gender-affirming medical care, including surgeries or puberty blocker drugs.
- This is the same bill that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced on the House side and would make performing such care a felony, as well as block federal funding for gender-affirming procedures.
- "Under no circumstances should doctors be allowed to perform these gruesome, irreversible operations on underage children," Vance said in a press release on the bill.
"Pro family": The Ohio senator has also expressed openness to ideas around making childbirth free for families, as well as end surprise medical billing for families with newborns.
- He introduced a bill last year that would add "birth of a child" as a reason for not returning to work under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Our thought bubble: Vance is certainly interested in re-branding Republicans as more of a populist party on health policy.
- But Trump is still at the top of the ticket and has a history of floating ideas like Medicare drug price negotiations, only to back off in the face of more traditionally conservative advice.
