“A conservative group of healthcare analysts today welcomed the intention of the new House Republican majority to immediately pass a bill repealing President Obama’s health reform law. After that’s done, though, the analysts suggested the Republican leaders get to work on a more realistic strategy to destroy the president’s signature piece of legislature.”
“McInturff found that 52 percent of independents said their vote was a message opposing President Obama’s health-care plan; only 18 percent said their vote was a message of support. Those numbers were crucial in bringing down Democratic candidates in dozens of swing House districts.”
“For starters, it means that the health care war is really only just beginning. By all means, the House should press for full repeal. But it has always been the case that the decisive health care election was always going to be in 2012, at the presidential level. The only way the fight for repeal-and-replace can be won decisively is if a Republican presidential candidate runs on an explicit replacement platform, and wins. Then there will be a clear mandate to overturn Obamacare and move the nation’s health-care system toward consumer control and market competition. Republicans in the House and Senate should recognize this, and lay the foundation for the ultimate victory by highlighting the most unpopular and damaging aspects of what was passed.”
“But even if the Supremes act to spare us the ObamaCare train wreck, our health-care system is still a train wreck. This is the toughest wicket for Republicans. Happily, a path back to the future exists that just might be politically actionable in a divided Washington. It involves not repealing ObamaCare but adding something to it—an optional federal charter for health insurers.”
“Democrats who voted for their party’s signature domestic achievement dropped like flies throughout the evening, adding credence to Republicans’ claim that the American public wants them to repeal healthcare reform.”
“Voting against the health care law may have saved a few moderate House Democrats who managed to survive an overwhelming Republican wave Tuesday night. Reps. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) are among the 11 Democrats who opposed the bill and survived in a midterm election in which voters identified health care as their second most important issue.”
“While it’s impossible to isolate the effects of that one vote given all the factors that contributed to Democratic losses, an initial analysis suggests that those Democrats in competitive districts who voted against the legislation fared a lot better than those who voted for it… 40 percent of the Democratic ‘no’ votes in McCain districts won reelection, whereas just 6 percent of ‘yes’ votes were able to survive.”
“Many of the House Democrats who cast the deciding votes on health reform are expected to lose on Election Day.
President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) needed every vote they could muster to push the bill through the House in March. The legislation passed 219-212, but for some Democrats, that vote could prove to be their political death.”
Sen. Russ Feingold is trailing in his re-election bid largely because of his vote for ObamaCare. “In most races around the country, the issue of healthcare reform has taken a backseat to more pressing concerns about jobs and the economy. Not in Wisconsin, where Ron Johnson, the Republican challenging Sen. Russ Feingold (D), has made health reform repeal a topic central to his campaign-trail message.”
“All signs point to an electoral rebuke of epic proportions tomorrow for those who sponsored and pushed ObamaCare through Congress in 2009 and early 2010. That would certainly be just. Because, months ago, ObamaCare’s advocates decided it was more important to them to jam the health care bill of their ideological dreams through Congress than it was to secure the consent of the governed for a more balanced, consensus plan.”