Republicans have been campaigning against the Affordable Care Act since the moment it passed—if not before. But now, Democrats have the upper hand on health care, and they intend to use it.
They’ve got a unified message blaming Republicans for “sabotaging” the health care law, leading to a cascade of sky-high insurance premiums that will come just before the November midterm elections. They’re rolling out ads featuring people helped by the law. And Tuesday, they’re starting a campaign to amplify each state’s premium increases — and tie those to GOP decisions.
Obamacare’s popularity has grown, and it turns out that when Republicans really got to the brink of repealing the law, people realized how much they benefit from it and how scary it is to have health coverage and protections yanked away. While Republicans didn’t manage to repeal Obamacare, they’ve undermined it—giving Democrats concrete problems to point to as they also remind voters that Republicans wanted to go even further:
“One of the worst provisions of the bill Kevin Cramer voted for was eliminating the Medicaid expansion,” [North Dakota Sen. Heidi] Heitkamp said. “We would have eliminated health care for thousands and thousands and thousands of people in North Dakota — people with opioid addictions, people whose children are disabled or the elderly in a nursing home. I don’t know how you justify that.”
Take back the House! Can you give $1 to elect a Democrat in each Daily Kos-targeted House district?
And let’s take back the Senate too. Can you give $3 to elect Democrats in Nevada and Arizona?