American health insurers are
dwarfing the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity when it comes to advertising on Obamacare.
Companies such as Cigna and Kaiser Permanente poured about $40 million into television ads specifically related to Obamacare between Dec. 1 and Feb. 8, according to ad tracking firm Kantar Media. That is far more than AFP, which as of last week had dropped about $27 million on ads since August attacking politicians who supported the program.
Obviously the aims of the advertising are completely different. The Kochs are primarily focusing in states where there are Senate Democrats running for re-election and insurance companies are competing for new customers.
But it's a whole new world now, and that's what the massive spending by insurance companies shows. The Kochs now have to compete with an established law that is providing great benefits to a lot of people. Attacking the law now means threatening to take people's health insurance away. And as more and more people realize that the law isn't really doing anything to change their lives, they're going to wonder what all this fuss is about. Then all but the most rabid Republicans are going to just tune out.