Raleigh – Two years ago tomorrow, a news report featured Senator Tillis bluntly revealing why he pushed to gut protections for pre-existing conditions: donations from wealthy special interests “had fallen off a cliff.” Senator Tillis, who oversaw fundraising for Senate Republicans, showed more concern for wealthy Republican donors than constituents with pre-existing conditions, blaming his party’s failure to repeal the health care law for lousy fundraising.

Tillis has long put special interests before North Carolinians’ health care. As Speaker of the House, Senator Tillis blocked Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, a position he bragged about this summer, saying, “I’m the Speaker of the House who signed the bill that made it illegal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.” Last week, a new report showed that Medicaid expansion “has saved lives.”

In Washington, Tillis has voted repeatedly to gut the Affordable Care Act, including voting for a repeal bill that would have gutted Medicaid funding, driven up premiums on North Carolinians, and left millions uninsured. When the Senate debated repealing the health care law, Senator Tillis said that he’d vote for “outright repeal” of the ACA “every time it comes to the floor” and later said his vote was “courageous.”

Now, he’s actively supporting his party’s reckless lawsuit that would send health care costs sky high and gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, saying, “I support anything that ultimately takes [the ACA] off the table.” He’s also trying to paper over his toxic record, pushing a sham bill that is “political cover” for vulnerable Republicans yet offers North Carolinians a “false promise” that “would do little to protect people with pre-existing conditions.”

“Senator Tillis is more concerned with keeping his special interest campaign donations flowing than protecting North Carolinians with pre-existing conditions,” NCDP spokesman Robert Howard said. “From blocking Medicaid expansion and denying access to care to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians to now supporting a reckless lawsuit that would dismantle the health care law and its critical consumer protections, Senator Tillis continues to show that he cares more about his political career than people’s health care. As long as he’s in Washington, Senator Tillis will keep putting his wealthy donors first and North Carolinians last.”