Lowering health care costs will be a central theme at the Democratic National Convention this week, campaign and convention officials said on Monday, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont confirmed as one notable program speaker set to focus upon the issue — specifically on “lowering Rx drug prices” and “taking on Big Pharma.”
The DNC convention runs for four nights starting on Monday, with nightly programming airing from the United Center in Chicago. Each night “will bring the story of the Democratic party and our nominees to the American people,” convention officials have said, and will help to further introduce Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and their agenda to the nation.
Speakers throughout the week like Sanders, California Rep. Robert Garcia, Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will highlight the Harris-Walz campaign’s support for strengthening the Affordable Care Act, convention officials shared first with ABC News.
Security walk through hallways at the United Center during preparations ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on August 18, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
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The remarks are also expected to contrast those health care proposals with “Donald Trump’s toxic Project 2025 agenda, which would repeal the Affordable Care Act and drive up the cost of care,” officials said, and highlight Trump’s “disastrous mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic” during the end of his term in 2020. Trump has said he no longer plans to repeal the ACA, saying he would make it “much better than it is right now.”
The speakers were each selected for their unique backgrounds on the topic of health care. Garcia, who lost two parents to COVID-19, will talk about Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic. Underwood, who has a background as a nurse, will talk about preserving and strengthening the ACA. Lujan Grisham, who was formerly the New Mexico Secretary of Health and whose mother was a breast cancer researcher who was later diagnosed with breast cancer, “will talk about preserving access to care through the ACA as well as cancer research,” officials said.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, wave as they board Air Force Two at Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 18, 2024, en route to Chicago, Illinois.
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On Sunday, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced the daily themes for the convention.
Monday’s theme is “For the People.” As it’s the day when President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak, the programming will highlight “the accomplishments and results President Biden delivered for people,” — “with [Harris] by his side.”
Tuesday’s theme is “A Bold Vision for America’s Future,” which will contrast the Harris-Walz agenda with that of Trump and Vance. The day’s speakers will emphasize the notion that the former ticket “presents a brighter vision where everyone will have a chance not just to get by, but to get ahead,” according to convention officials.
Wednesday’s theme is “A Fight for Our Freedoms.” On the day Walz is set to speak, the programming is expected to expand upon the reasons Harris chose him as her running mate — because he is a “staunch defender” of freedoms and is a “champion for America’s working families.”
People work during preparations at the United Center, the host venue of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 18, 2024.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
And Thursday’s theme is “For Our Future,” which sets up the marquee nomination acceptance speech slated to be delivered by Harris. The programming will center around the fact that the nation “can’t afford” to put Trump back in the White House, raising the stakes for the November election.
Health care will be a convention focal point days after as Harris unveiled on Friday a string of new economic proposals during the first major policy rollout of her campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In that speech, she pledged to “lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone.” She also said she’d “demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between Big Pharma and the insurance companies, who use opaque practices to raise your drug prices and profit off your need for medicine.”
“Building on her years of work as vice president, U.S. senator, and California attorney general, taking on corporations that rip off consumers and fighting to keep prices low for Americans, VP Harris made two major announcements last week — one with President Biden on Thursday regarding drug prices and one on Friday regarding her plan to bring down costs for the middle class,” the officials said in a statement to ABC News.
“Now, with those accomplishments secured and a forward-looking plan, lowering health care costs will be a central theme at this week’s convention,” they added.