‘Trump being elected would be my death sentence.’ Georgians vote early for health care

When Janet Morton Jirousek decided to vote early for Kamala Harris in Fayette County, Georgia, she did so with one goal in mind: save the Affordable Care Act.

Jirousek, a 72-year-old retired nurse practitioner, is one year out from her cancer diagnosis. Though she’s undergone chemotherapy and radiation, she still needs an infusion of the costly immunotherapy medication Keytruda every six weeks to give her the best chance of survival. For her, the 2024 election is a matter of life or death.

“If Donald Trump is elected and he gets rid of the ACA like he’s proposing, there goes my protection to keep my insurance,” Jirousek explained to USA TODAY. If the ACA is overturned, insurance companies could once again deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions like cancer. “Trump being elected would be my death sentence. I’m petrified that he may be elected.”

She says the cost of her medical expenses – including doctor visits, the infusion chair, and frequent PET scans – are “astronomical.” Without the coverage the ACA provides, the cost of a single infusion would be a staggering $6,500. Her treatments last year would have totaled $750,000.

Former President Trump promised to repeal the ACA, also known as Obamacare, during his 2016 presidential campaign. He made several unsuccessful attempts to block the health care law during his administration and continued to rail against it throughout his 2024 campaign.

But in a March 2024 post on Truth Social, Trump claimed to change his position. Instead of repealing the ACA, he said he wants to make it “much, much, much better” and less costly for Americans.

With less than two weeks until the election, however, the Trump campaign has not clarified how they would improve it or make it more affordable.When asked how he would do so during his sole debate with Vice President Harris, Trump simply replied that he had “concepts of a plan.”

Voters motivated by Roe v. Wade ruling

The line at the Peachtree City library snaked around the back entrance for the second week of early voting, with some waiting an hour to vote in the traditionally red Fayette County.

Blake Hayes, a 28-year-old IT professional, said he wanted to vote early over concerns about the state election board’s controversial new rules. The rules, which included a last-minute requirement to hand count ballots, were struck down last week during a dizzying set of court cases.

“If I voted early,” Hayes said, “then I would already have my ballot in before anything else crazy could happen.”

Like Jirousek, access to health care – and abortion rights in particular – is another issue that got Hayes out to the polls before Election Day.

“My wife and I want to have kids at some point,” Hayes explained. “I’m terrified about the example of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller in Georgia, as someone where there was an issue and doctors couldn’t help due to the state’s laws.”

Amber Thurman and Candi Miller died after Georgia’s six-week abortion ban went into effect in 2022. Both women’s deaths were labeled “preventable” and have been directly linked to the state’s restrictive abortion law.“What if that was us?” Hayes wondered aloud.

Another early voter, Genevieve Ray, says that while Republican tax cuts would be good for her family, she can’t “in good faith” vote for Trump.

“As a woman, I worry about what he’s done reversing Roe v. Wade,” Ray said. “I’m currently pregnant and if I had an issue with my pregnancy, I worry that living in the state of Georgia, I wouldn’t receive the care I needed in certain situations.”

As the line dwindled, Fayette County residents emerged from the polling place with their “I Voted” stickers attached to their chests. One man walked back to his truck and drove off, his “TRUMP 2024” flag billowing off the back of the truck bed.

Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter access issues for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Early Georgia voters go to the polls for health care, abortion access