Subject: DNC MEMO: GOP’s Effort to Undermine the Affordable Care Act Could Damage Their Own Chances in 2016
From: "Shulman, Holly" <[email-masked]>
To: "Shulman, Holly" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:02:53 +0000

From: DNC National Press Secretary Holly Shulman
To: Interested Parties
Date: June 25, 2015
Re: GOP’s Effort to Undermine the Affordable Care Act Could Damage Their Own Chances in 2016
2016ers – be careful what you wish for.
For years, Republicans have tried everything in their power to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, making it more difficult for Americans to obtain affordable health coverage and returning power to the insurance companies.

The Affordable Care Act has survived more than 50 GOP-led votes to repeal or undermine it in the House alone, a presidential election, and a Supreme Court case already. It shouldn’t surprise Republicans that voters don't want to see people lose their health insurance<http://aufc.3cdn.net/04eeb9c2e40d6ba87e_w9m6bxp7g.pdf>. The uninsured rate is at or near historic lows<http://www.gallup.com/poll/182348/uninsured-rate-dips-first-quarter.aspx>, and health care spending is growing at the slowest rate ever recorded<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/03/us-health-spending-grows-at-lowest-rate/19830573/>.
Lately, Republicans have been cheerleading another legal attack on the ACA: the King v. Burwell case which could take affordable health coverage away from millions of Americans. But with so many Americans enjoying the benefits of the ACA, the GOP effort to kill the law is starting to backfire and Republicans are panicking.

Conservative columnist David Frum writes<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-question-that-will-decide-the-2016-election/391137/> that the question “Will you take away my health insurance?” will decide the 2016 elections.

We are confident that the Supreme Court will preserve access to affordable care for millions of Americans. But should the court rule in favor of King, Republican 2016ers should expect to be subjected to the public’s ire.
Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush would be dealt the undesirable task of defending the court’s decision in their home state of Florida. Florida is the state with the highest number of people at risk of losing subsidies for their insurance in the nation. More than 1.3 million Florida residents would be hit with an average 359% premium increase. Good luck trying to spin that.
Governors Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and Bobby Jindal all opposed the Affordable Care Act and chose to rely on the federal insurance exchange in their state. Yet none of them have laid out a contingency plan to deal with the potential outcome of King v. Burwell and the loss of access to affordable health care for millions of their constituents.
Rand Paul is already in a difficult situation. Paul opposed the decision of the Democratic governor of his home state of Kentucky to set up the highly-successful state-based health exchange that means Kentucky is not at risk of losing its subsidies, but as a supporter of the King lawsuit he thinks people in states without exchanges should stand to lose their subsidies. Will he admit he was wrong to oppose Gov. Beshear’s actions to extend quality health care to Kentuckians?

And what do Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Indiana have in common? They’re more than just battleground states. They’re states where the Republican leadership refused to create a state-based exchange, and whose residents would see average premium increases<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/03/morning-plum-the-stakes-in-obamacare-lawsuit-just-got-a-whole-lot-higher/> as high as 359% if the court rules in favor of King.

Ever since the law’s inception, Republicans have based their entire political strategy on attacking the Affordable Care Act – a law that prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people who have preexisting conditions, allows young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance, and closes the Medicare Part D doughnut hole for seniors, making prescription drugs more affordable. They have uniformly opposed a law that takes power away from the insurance companies and provides millions of Americans access to quality affordable health insurance.

Even a decision in favor of the American people won’t put this issue to rest for Republican presidential contenders who have built their base support on opposition to the ACA – and are running on a platform of repeal<https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/613810572719751168>. But in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court grants the GOP fantasy of taking quality, affordable health care away from millions of Americans, it couldn’t come for them at a worse time.

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Holly Shulman | National Press Secretary
Democratic National Committee
direct: (202) 863-8106
e-mail: [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>