WASHINGTON – If Republicans were writing a movie script for next year’s congressional elections, the working title might be “2014: Apocalypse of Obamacare.”
The plot: The rollout of President Barack Obama’s health-care law turns into such a disaster that enraged voters rebuke him by rewarding the GOP with undisputed control of Congress.
But there’s a risk for Republicans if they’re wrong and the Affordable Care Act works reasonably well, particularly in states that have embraced it. Republicans might be seen as obstinately standing in the way of progress.
The law already has been a political prop in two election seasons, but next year will be different.
Voters will have a real program to judge, working or dysfunctional. Will affordable health care finally be a reality for millions of uninsured working people? Or will premiums skyrocket as the heavy hand of government upends already-fragile insurance markets for small businesses and individuals?
“The end of this movie has not been written,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor who tracks public opinion on health care. He says next year’s movie actually will be a documentary: what happens in states that fully put the law in place and those that resist – “a message of reality.”
One of the most prominent doomsayers is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who predicts “Obamacare” probably will be the biggest issue of 2014 and “an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it.”
“This thing can’t possibly work,” says McConnell. “It will be a huge disaster in 2014.”
Counting on that, House Republicans are busy framing an election narrative, voting to repeal the health law and trying to link it to the scandal over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party groups. It could help excite the conservative base.
But Democratic pollster Celinda Lake doubts reality will follow the GOP script. Next year, “we won’t have to worry about the mythology laid out by the right wing about Obamacare: death panels and dramatic cuts to Medicare,” she said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said uninsured people in her state will have more than 200 coverage options to choose from. “We have been hearing the fear, but in states like mine, people are seeing the reality,” she said.
In just about five months, people without access to coverage through their jobs can start shopping for subsidized private insurance in new state markets. The actual benefits begin Jan. 1, 2014. But because of continuing opposition to the law from many Republican governors and state legislators, the federal government will be running the insurance markets in more than half the states.
Another major element of the law, the expansion of Medicaid to serve more low-income people, also has run into problems. With many legislative sessions over or winding down, it looks like fewer than half the states may accept the expansion. That means millions of low-income people are likely to remain uninsured, at least initially.
