Editing Nancy Pelosi (section)

====Affordable Care Act====

Pelosi was instrumental in passing the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]] of 2010.<ref>{{cite news |author=[[Molly Ball]] |url=https://time.com/5832330/nancy-pelosi-obamacare |title=How Nancy Pelosi saved the Affordable Care Act |newspaper=[[Time Magazine]] |date=May 2020}}</ref> She was a key figure in convincing Obama to continue pushing for health-care reform after the election of [[Massachusetts]] [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Scott Brown (politician)|Scott Brown]] in a January [[special election]]—a defeat seen as potentially fatal to Democratic reform efforts.<ref name="healthcarereform">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/health/policy/21reconstruct.html |title=Health Vote Caps a Journey Back From the Brink |author=Sheryl Gay Strolberg, Jeff Zenley and [[Carl Hulse]] |date=March 20, 2010 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 17, 2017 |archive-date=September 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926074207/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/health/policy/21reconstruct.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After delivering 219 votes in the House for Obama's health-care package, Pelosi was both praised and heckled as she made her way to Capitol Hill.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nancy Pelosi Heckled—Sarah Palin Promises November Vote |work=National Ledger |date=March 22, 2010
|url=http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerdc/article_272630958.shtml |access-date=March 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325174956/http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerdc/article_272630958.shtml |archive-date=March 25, 2010 }}</ref><ref name ="nytimesmagazinehealthcare">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/magazine/nancy-pelosi-house-democrats.html |quote = Pelosi [had to manage] intransigent House Republicans, reluctant Blue Dogs, liberals demanding nothing less than a single-payer system, skittish White House advisers and Senate Democrats willing to waste months in quixotic pursuit of bipartisan cover. ... [She had to persuade progressives] that the 'public option' hybrid of single-payer and privately managed health care plans was now dead on arrival in the Senate. Then she persuaded Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, an anti-abortion Democrat, to drop his demand that the health care bill prohibit federal funds being used on abortion. When a host of other backstage deals with Blue Dogs—like reckoning with disparities among states in Medicare reimbursements—failed, Pelosi managed the fallout. Obamacare passed in the House by three votes. 'I'd remind people: We would not have health care today were it not for Nancy Pelosi,' [Former Wisconsin Congressman David] Obey said. 'There were all kinds of people, both in our caucus and in the White House, who were willing to settle for one-tenth of a loaf. And she said, "To hell with that. We were sent here to do more.{{"'}}|title = Nancy Pelosi's Last Battle |first1 = Robert|last1 = Draper |date = November 19, 2018 |newspaper = The New York Times Magazine |access-date = August 18, 2022 }}</ref>

Pelosi has voted to increase [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] and [[Medicaid]] benefits.<ref name="VoteSma14">{{cite web |title=Health Issues |work=Key Vote |publisher=[[Project Vote Smart]] |year=2006 |url=http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=H0222103&type=category&category=Health%2BIssues&go.x=10&go.y=5 |access-date=November 12, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061204200526/http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=H0222103&type=category&category=Health+Issues&go.x=10&go.y=5 |archive-date=December 4, 2006 }}</ref> She does not endorse Senator [[Bernie Sanders]]'s bill for [[single-payer healthcare]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mascaro |first1=Lisa |title=Pelosi declines to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders' single-payer healthcare bill |url=https://latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-pelosi-declines-to-endorse-bernie-1505230000-htmlstory.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=March 23, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114194743/https://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-201709-htmlstory.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Min Kim |first1=Seung |title=Pelosi not endorsing Sanders' single-payer bill |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/bernie-sanders-single-payer-no-support-pelosi-242597 |website=[[Politico]] |access-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-date=November 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115185202/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/bernie-sanders-single-payer-no-support-pelosi-242597 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On March 10, 2017, Pelosi said Democrats would continue battling Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but would also be willing to form a compromise measure if Republicans reached out for support. She indicated her support for the Republican plan to expand Health Savings Accounts and said the question of Republicans' accepting an expansion of Medicaid was important.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/03/10/pelosi-says-democrats-willing-to-deal-on-health-care/99001568/|title=Pelosi says Democrats willing to deal on health-care fixes if GOP reaches out|date=March 10, 2017|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115170157/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/03/10/pelosi-says-democrats-willing-to-deal-on-health-care/99001568/|url-status=live}}</ref> In September, Pelosi sent a letter to Democrats praising Senator [[John McCain]] for announcing his opposition to the latest Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and called on lawmakers and advocacy groups alike to pressure Republicans in the health-care discussion. She said Democrats would be unified in putting "a stake in the heart of this monstrous bill".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/351951-pelosi-touts-good-news-of-mccains-opposition-to-repeal/ |title=Pelosi: Democrats will 'put a stake in the heart' of ObamaCare repeal after McCain opposition |date=September 22, 2017 |newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date=August 22, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114194715/https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/351951-pelosi-touts-good-news-of-mccains-opposition-to-repeal |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2018, during a speech at Independence First, Pelosi said Democrats' goal "has always been to expand coverage and to do so in a way that improves benefits{{spaces}}... and we have to address the affordability issue that is so undermined by the Republicans."<ref>{{cite news |last=Barrett |first=Rick |title=Nancy Pelosi pushes for national health care plan during Milwaukee visit |website=jsonline.com |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2018/07/21/nancy-pelosi-pushes-national-health-care-plan-during-milwaukee-visit/812013002/ |date=July 21, 2018 |access-date=August 22, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114194751/https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2018/07/21/nancy-pelosi-pushes-national-health-care-plan-during-milwaukee-visit/812013002/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 2018, after Democrats gained a majority in the House in the midterm elections, she said, "I'm staying as Speaker to protect the Affordable Care Act. That's my main issue, because I think that's, again, about the health and financial health of the America's families, and if Hillary had won, I could go home." She added that Republicans had misrepresented their earlier position of opposition to covering people with preexisting conditions during the election cycle and called on them to join Democrats in "removing all doubt that the preexisting medical condition is the law—the benefit—is the law of the land".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/416134-pelosi-staying-as-speaker-to-protect-the-affordable-care-act/ |title=Pelosi says she'll be Speaker 'to protect the Affordable Care Act' |first=Michael |last=Burke |date=November 11, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]}}</ref>