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A funny thing happened on the way to the midterms …
Morning Plum: Obamacare disappearing as major issue
For many months after the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act’s website, it was widely stated as incontrovertible fact that Obamacare was the primary reason Democrats were likely to lose control of the Senate.
But new ad data compiled by Bloomberg News tells a very different story. In three of the top-tier Senate races – North Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana – spending on spots about the health law has fallen sharply:
The party’s experience across the country shows that Republicans can’t count on the issue to motivate independent voters they need to oust Democrats in Arkansas, Louisiana and Alaska…
Some GOP candidates, such as Thom Tillis in North Carolina and Scott Brown in New Hampshire, have even vaguely claimed the newly insured should somehow continue to enjoy the law’s benefits after it is repealed – again, without saying how. Others, such as Terri Lynn Land in Michigan and Tom Cotton in Arkansas, won’t say whether the Medicaid expansion moving forward in their states should be rolled back.
Why has this disappeared as a campaign issue? Because the horror stories about premiums skyrocketing were just stories, wishful thinking by Republicans who have no qualms about sacrificing the lives of their constituents on the altar of their anti-government ideology.
TPM:The Obamacare Headline That The GOP Doesn’t Want You To See
The headlines were all too predictable when Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced in June that it would request an average 12.5 percent premium increase for its Connecticut market. “Now EVEN MORE States Report Double-Digit Premium Hikes,” the conservative Daily Caller trumpeted.
But that wasn’t the whole story. It never is with Obamacare premium news, though that hasn’t stopped news outlets from blaring headlines like that one from the Daily Caller whenever an insurance company announces its proposed rates for next year. Skyrocketing premiums are one of the last anti-Obamacare talking points that conservatives have to hold onto.
But then on Monday, the conclusion of the Connecticut story came. State insurance regulators had rejected Anthem’s proposed 12.5 percent premium hike. So after some revisions, the company would instead lower its premiums ever so slightly on average — 0.1 percent — in 2015, the Connecticut Mirror reported.
There’s more …
As Republicans Stop Talking About Obamacare, One Vulnerable Democrat Is Touting Its Success
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) released an ad touting provisions of the Affordable Care Act on Monday just as Republicans in competitive congressional races are spending less on political spots attacking the law.
The ad, titled “Cancer,” tells a personal story of how Pryor, a two-term senator who is now in a tight race to retain his senate seat, had to tango with insurance companies after being diagnosed with cancer in 1996. “No one should be fighting an insurance company while you’re fighting for your life,” Pryor says. “That’s why I helped pass a law that prevents insurance companies from canceling your policy if you get sick, or deny coverage for preexisting conditions.”
Obamacare success ties Mitch McConnell in knots
Obamacare is working in Kentucky. And that’s a big, big problem for Mitch McConnell.
In fact, the law’s growing success across the country is putting the entire GOP-for years committed to the law’s destruction-in a pretty awkward spot.
McConnell, who faces a tight re-election battle in his home state this fall, has looked clumsier than perhaps anyone. The GOP Senate leader has repeatedly called for Obamacare’s repeal-but now he’s trying to have it both ways. McConnell says that while he still wants to repeal the law, he wants to keep Kynect, the popular state-based insurance exchange.
There’s just one problem: As a policy matter, it won’t work.
Put simply, you can’t have Kynect, at least in its current form, without the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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