Ossoff’s latest ad highlights healthcare divide in Senate race

June 20, 2017 - Atlanta, Ga: Sixth district congressional candidate Jon Ossoff with his fiance Alisha Kramer waves goodbye to the crowd during the Jon Ossoff election night party at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter Hotel Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. This is the election coverage of the sixth district congressional runoff between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel. PHOTO / JASON GETZ

Credit: Jason Getz

Credit: Jason Getz

June 20, 2017 - Atlanta, Ga: Sixth district congressional candidate Jon Ossoff with his fiance Alisha Kramer waves goodbye to the crowd during the Jon Ossoff election night party at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter Hotel Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. This is the election coverage of the sixth district congressional runoff between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel. PHOTO / JASON GETZ

In a tight race against U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Democrat Jon Ossoff turned again to his closest ally to make his case for election: His wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, who has recently recovered from a bout with the coronavirus.

Kramer, an obstetrician, touted her husband’s pledge to expand healthcare access and ensure that voters “don’t have to worry about losing their health insurance because they have a pre-existing condition.”

“Being a doctor is a gift,” she said in the 30-second spot released Thursday. “But there are many days when health care workers come home and have to cry because it can be really painful to see what our patients have to go through struggling to afford their health care.”

Kramer has played a prominent role in Ossoff’s campaign. His first TV ad during the crowded primary featured his wife’s role in the fight against the coronavirus. And Ossoff went into self-quarantine for several weeks after Kramer contracted the disease, which she’s since overcome.

With polls showing a deadlocked race, Perdue and Ossoff have sparred over their dueling healthcare plans.

The Republican in August released a TV ad with a pledge that “health insurance should always cover pre-existing conditions for anyone,” pointing to a 2019 measure he sponsored aimed at ensuring coverage of people with those ailments.

Ossoff’s campaign pointed to analysis from experts that claims the measure doesn’t match the Affordable Care Act’s protections and his support of a GOP lawsuit that threatens to gut the Obama-era healthcare legislation.

The Democrat released a healthcare plan in August that includes pledges to back a “public option” healthcare system, increase funding for public health programs and vote to confirm federal judges who support abortion rights.

See the ad, “Gift,” below: