{"id":18576,"date":"2019-01-09T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/01\/09\/democrats-health-care-ambitions-meet-the-reality-of-divided-government\/"},"modified":"2019-01-09T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T16:40:00","slug":"democrats-health-care-ambitions-meet-the-reality-of-divided-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/democrats-health-care-ambitions-meet-the-reality-of-divided-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats' Health Care Ambitions Meet The Reality Of Divided Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Kodjak<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a speech Thursday to the new Congress that Democrats want “to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices and protect people with pre-existing medical conditions.”<\/p>\n

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Carolyn Kaster\/AP<\/p>\n

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Carolyn Kaster\/AP<\/p>\n

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In her first speech as speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi made it clear that she knows that health care is key to why voters sent Democrats to Congress. <\/p>\n

“In the past two years the American people have spoken,” Pelosi <\/a>told members of Congress and their families who were gathered Thursday in the House chamber for the opening day<\/a> of the session. <\/p>\n

“Tens of thousands of public events were held, hundreds of thousands of people turned out, millions of calls were made, countless families, even sick little children \u2014 our little lobbyists,<\/a> our little lobbyists \u2014 bravely came forward to tell their stories and they made a big difference,” said Pelosi, a California Democrat.<\/p>\n

What is the Democrats’ mandate?<\/p>\n

“To lower health care costs and prescription drug prices and protect people with pre-existing medical conditions,” she said to applause. <\/p>\n

In their campaigns last year, Democrats promised<\/a> to protect the Affordable Care Act, and the access to coverage that it guarantees for many people. Many Democrats went further, running on the promise of “Medicare-for-all.” <\/p>\n