Loeffler vs. Warnock on health care: Where they stand

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Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and her Democratic challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock are pitching two very different futures for Georgians, and that extends to their health care plans.

Loeffler has repeatedly emphasized free market solutions, and her recently released health care plan aims to "increase competition among health insurance companies," while Warnock supports early Medicare buy-ins and Medicaid expansions but says he would never eliminate private insurance.

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An ad from the Warnock campaign charges that "Loeffler downplays the threat [of coronavirus] publicly." Warnock took aim at his opponent, saying "it must be really hard to explain why you’re for getting rid of health care in the middle of a pandemic," likely a reference to a GOP-backed lawsuit aimed at overturning the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Raphael Warnock, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a campaign rally on Nov. 15, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Warnock also touted goals that Democrats have been trying to accomplish for a while.

"With Georgians exposed to the skyrocketing costs of critical prescription drugs like insulin, Reverend Warnock believes solutions, like allowing the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on the prices seniors are charged for life-saving medication, will ease this moral crisis," the Democrat's website says.

Meanwhile, Loeffler has praised Georgia's request for a Section 1332 waiver, which lets a state create its own health care program as an alternative to the ACA. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) greenlighted Georgia's waiver in November.

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Georgia has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country, 13.7%, according to CMS.

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Sen. Kelly Loeffler speaks at a campaign rally on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, in Cumming, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Loeffler, a member of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has cast her race as a battle between socialism and free markets.

"The Left wants to socialize our nation’s health care, turning it into a government-run system that would limit choices, lower the quality of care and take away private health insurance from roughly 180 million Americans," she wrote in her Modernizing Americans' Health Care Plan.

Her plan lists more than a dozen bills she says need to be passed to lower prescription drug costs, increase Americans' access to care and end "our dependence on adversaries like China to manufacture critical medical devices and prescription drugs."

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Warnock has accused Loeffler of ignoring protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, a claim that was fact-checked by Atlanta-based 11Alive. Loeffler and her running mate Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., introduced a resolution supporting coverage for pre-existing conditions in November.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.