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Telling the Truth About Republican Health Care Policies Works

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I alluded to this the other day, but glad to see that Manchin and other red state Dems finally get it:

But instead of blasting away at a bill that might threaten the coal industry, Manchin is now shooting a lawsuit being heard in federal court that seeks to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, brought by 20 Republican attorneys general and governors. And guess what: One of the plaintiffs in the suit just happens to be Manchin’s opponent, the West Virginia attorney general.

This confirms once again that this lawsuit is a political nightmare for Republicans. If it succeeds, not only would an estimated 17 million Americans lose health coverage; the tens of millions with preexisting conditions would lose the protection they got from the ACA (about half of all non-elderly Americans have a preexisting condition). A recent poll found that 75 percent of Americans said it’s “very important” to them that those protections remain in place.

One of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country — one that represents a state where Trump is still enormously popular — is going on the attack against his opponent for supporting this effort to destroy Obamacare. This shows how much the politics have shifted against repeal.

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This is working in many parts of the country, including more conservative and Trump-friendly ones. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, 52 percent of pro-Democrat ads for federal offices in August mentioned health care.

It’s also resonating across the Senate map. Democrats have an outside chance to take back the Senate this year, despite the fact that they’re defending many more seats than Republicans are. One of the key reasons that’s possible is that Democrats’ most vulnerable seats are held by people such as Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri — skilled politicians who have long experience in the delicate enterprise of running as Democrats in red states. Wherever you find a potentially vulnerable Democrat, you’ll probably find them talking about preexisting conditions (see here or here or here).

And these Democrats have a good shot at survival in no small part because, while they are still to the right of the typical Democrat, they are now passionate defenders of the ACA.

In addition to the fact that it was false, it was always deeply mysterious that anyone thought that “actually Republicans secretly agree with us on health care” was an effective political strategy.  Telling the truth — that Republicans want many fewer people to have health insurance and nobody but the extremely affluent to have comprehensive health insurance — also makes much more perfect sense. I’m glad Democratic politicans get it, although I’ve given up hope that pundits will ever give up the “when you think about it, the Republican plan to end Medicaid, Medicare, and employer-provided insurance and require everyone to carry stingily subsidized insurance that doesn’t cover anything is just like the ACA” line.

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