The Republican plan of running against Obamacare is in freefall today as HHS announced that 975,000 people signed up for health insurance in December alone.
According to the announcement from the Department of Health and Human Services,
As we continue our open enrollment campaign, we experienced a welcome surge in enrollment as millions of Americans seek access to affordable health care coverage through new Health Insurance Marketplaces nationwide. More than 1.1 million people enrolled in a qualified health plan via the Federally-facilitated Marketplace from October 1 to December 24, with more than 975,000 of those enrolling this month alone. Our HealthCare.gov enrollment nearly doubled in the days before the January 1 coverage deadline compared to the first few weeks of the month. December enrollment so far is over 7 times that of October and November. In part, this was because we met our marks on improving HealthCare.gov: the site supported 83,000 concurrent users on December 23rd alone.
The entire Republican strategy has been to discourage people from enrolling in the ACA Judging by these numbers, they have completely failed. Republicans are basing their entire 2014 and 2016 strategies on running against Obamacare. Their plan is backfiring, and they are setting themselves up for an epic backlash.
Millions of Americans have now signed up for access to affordable healthcare. Republicans, especially Republican Senate candidates, are going to be in a position of having to tell voters in 2014 that their plan is to take away their healthcare. This is why as more people enroll, it won’t be surprising if more Democrats follow the lead of Sen. Mary Landrieu and embrace the ACA as a part of their campaign.
The Republican tactic of campaigning only on opposition to the ACA was running on fumes in 2012. It was a narrowminded and shortsighted strategy that was born out of the fact that the GOP has done zilch for the American people and has no accomplishments to run on. Obamacare was all they had, and now that is vanishing too.
The success of the ACA will have a profound impact on elections around the country. In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell is defying the success of the exchange in his own state by refusing to talk about anything but repealing Obamacare. McConnell is already tied with Democratic challenger Alison Grimes, and his Obamacare or bust strategy may very well cost him his Senate seat this November.
President Obama trusted his instincts. The president has never wavered. He knows that people want access to affordable healthcare and he is being proven correct every day. Millions of people are signing up, and the Republican Party is being reduced to rubble as the final beam that was propping up their teetering house cracks under the weight of the ACA’s success.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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