Thread by @SimaforTX

Since @DanCrenshawTX is in the mood to make a fool of himself today, I figured I'd help him out.

Dan just dropped his new 'health care' ad, and *surprise, surprise* the congressman forgot about his own voting record. Good thing I kept ALL the receipts for him! 🤡

THREAD(1/23)

In the new ad, Dan makes four claims about what he’ll do.
Two of his claims — “decrease your costs with more choice and transparency” and “increase your access to doctors you trust” — were too vague for anyone to fact check.

His other two claims? Flat-out lies. (2/23)

CLAIM 1: “My plan? Hold Big Pharma accountable.”

Fact Check: FALSE

Here are four reasons why he's lying. (3/23)

1) @DanCrenshawTX promised to allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drug prices. Instead, he filled his campaign coffers with Pharma cash in Washington, scrubbed that promise off his website, and voted against a bipartisan effort to lower Rx costs. (4/23)

2) HR 3 was not perfect, but @DanCrenshawTX is now leaning on a hollow, ineffective GOP bill — HR 19 — that has no forcing mechanism for lowering Rx costs, no bipartisan support, & no measures to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug pricing.(5/23)
americanactionforum.org/insight/compar…

3) @DanCrenshawTX's bill “does not constrain Pharma companies from increasing prices of their drugs over time, nor does it constrain high launch prices," is “fairly narrow,” and “would largely not help Americans with private insurance.” 🤦‍♀️ (6/23)
healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl…

4) And @ProtectOurCare's Anne Shoup called HR 19 “a joke of a bill” meant to make it look like Republicans were taking action on prescription drug costs without proposing anything that would upset the pharmaceutical industry. (7/23)

americanindependent.com/gop-prescripti…

CLAIM 2: @DanCrenshawTX will "protect those with pre-existing conditions.”

Fact Check: VERY FALSE

Here are some of the many, many reasons we know he's deceiving Texans. (8/23)

1) @DanCrenshawTX voted not once, but TWICE in support of the Trump admin’s lawsuit to dismantle ACA — which would strip health care from nearly 2 million Texans. Dan has 340,000 constituents with pre-existing conditions — 51% of our district. (9/23)
americanprogress.org/issues/healthc…

2) @DanCrenshawTX voted against the 2020 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act (HR 1425), which would have expanded middle class insurance subsidies, provided state-based marketplace funding, and incentivized Medicaid expansion. (10/23)
clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll1…

3) In the same bill, @DanCrenshawTX also voted to allow the Trump admin to continue with these discriminatory short-term insurance plans. A House investigation found that these waiver plans discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. (11/23)
drive.google.com/file/d/1uiL3Bi…

That means excluding or flat-out denying coverage for certain pre-existing conditions — including PREGNANCY.🤦‍♀️ (12/23)

Even @AARP has spoken out against this measure, noting that the plan @DanCrenshawTX supports puts “vulnerable groups at risk” while “threatening key ACA consumer protections and encouraging waivers that could hurt older adults.” (13/23)
aarp.org/content/dam/aa…

5) Instead, @DanCrenshawTX is supporting HR 692 — a bill now officially opposed by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the American Lung Association, the American Diabetes Association...(14/23)
marchofdimes.org/materials/05-0…

...the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Family Voices, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the National Health Council, the American Liver Foundation, the Chronic Disease Coalition, the ALS Association, the... (15/23)

...the National Patient Advocate Foundation, the National Kidney Foundation, March of Dimes, the United Way, the Cancer Support Community, and many, many more leading health advocacy organizations. (16/23)
marchofdimes.org/materials/05-0…

All of these leading organizations came together in an open letter to Congress to note they're “concerned that the policies outlined in these bills fall far short of the comprehensive protections and coverage expansion included in current law [the Affordable Care Act].” (17/23)

6) Unlike the ACA, @DanCrenshawTX's bill does not specify what treatments insurance has to cover, does not ban annual or lifetime caps on coverage, and does not ban gender discrimination. (18/23)
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

7) And according to @CMSGov, @DanCrenshawTX's plan also does not require health care plans to cover ambulatory care, hospitalization, maternity care, mental health and addiction treatment, pediatric care, and laboratory services — all of which were covered under the ACA. (19/23)

8) Crenshaw will try to claim that this bandaid bill will protect people with pre-existing conditions and outlaw discriminatory premiums — but that’s not what his bill says. (20/23)

9) As @nytimes notes, the bill itself states that “it shall not be construed to restrict the amount that an employer or an individual may be charged for coverage." (21/23)
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

.@DanCrenshawTX is taking his shamelessness to a whole new level with these outright health care lies. While Dan confidently deceives Houston’s families on television and gaslights his constituents, we’re holding him accountable for his broken promises. (22/23)

I’m ready to be the health care advocate our community deserves in Congress, and @DanCrenshawTX owes his neighbors an apology for spreading these falsehoods with such blatant disregard for the truth.

Help me send him packing:
secure.actblue.com/donate/sima4tx…

End of Thread 💪 (23/23)