Democrats see health bill as a path to victory over Republicans
Obamacare repeal could cost GOP some seats
ATLANTA - It’s “Trumpcare” now, and Republicans have to answer for it.
After dozens of symbolic votes, House Republicans finally pushed through a bill to gut Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, with President Donald Trump hailing the replacement as “a great plan” that has “really brought the Republican Party together.”
Democrats are giddy about what could be severe political consequences for the GOP.
Even though the Senate still has to act, Republicans now largely own a measure that would curtail, and in some cases take away completely, benefits Americans have embraced after seven years. Chief among them: a guarantee of paying the same amount for coverage regardless of health history. Budget analysts estimate 24 million people would lose insurance over a decade, 14 million in the first year, and older Americans would face higher costs.
The Senate likely will revise the bill, but 217 House Republicans voted yes.
“Progressives are going to hang this around the necks of every one of those Republicans,” said Angel Padilla, co-founder of the liberal group Indivisible. “These Republicans voted to take away people’s health care. This is going to come back to bite them.”
Democrats are convinced the GOP repeal bill jeopardizes the Republican monopoly in Washington, starting with majority control of the House, and the party’s advantages in statehouses from Nevada to New Hampshire.
Democrats need to flip 24 seats between now and the 2018 elections to take control of the House. Of the 217 Republicans who backed the bill, 14 come from districts carried by Democrat Hillary Clinton last fall, and 24 serve in districts where Trump did not win more than 50% of the vote.
Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is not seeking re-election next year, warned that the bill “has the potential to severely harm the health and lives of people in south Florida.” Her open seat in Miami is considered a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats.
Outside groups prepared to launch an advertising campaign in the coming days to punish vulnerable Republicans in key states. The television and online blitz is expected to seize on the more unpopular provisions in the GOP plan, which was opposed by the AARP, the American Medical Association, which represents doctors, and the American Hospital Association.
The AARP warned that the GOP plan institutes an “age tax” and jeopardizes coverage for 25 million older Americans with pre-existing conditions. The bill would also roll back subsidies for individual insurance premiums, end federal payments for states to expand Medicaid for the poor and disabled, and cut more than $700 billion in taxes over 10 years.
Act Blue, a clearinghouse political action committee that raises money for Democratic campaigns, has already helped raise more than $2 million to fuel challenges against House Republicans who backed the GOP plan.
Some Republicans maintain that the GOP had no choice.
“The House Republican majority was in far greater jeopardy had we not repealed Obamacare,” said Republican strategist Mark Shields. If Republicans didn’t deliver after years of promises to their conservative base, he said, they’d “get crushed” in 2018.