Obamacare sea change: GOP governor boasts about ACA benefits
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obamacare-sea-change-gop-governor-boasts-about-aca-benefits
Obamacare sea change: GOP governor boasts about ACA benefits
09/18/14 10:20 AM—Updated 09/18/14 12:08 PM
By Steve Benen
Earlier this year, the Republican game plan for health care was pretty straightforward: attack “Obamacare” constantly, make it the centerpiece of the 2014 cycle, and wait for the inevitable victories to roll in.
The very idea that we’d see a Republican governor bragging about Affordable Care Act benefits – in the final stretch of a tough re-election campaign, no less – seemed hard to fathom. And yet, here we are (thanks to my colleague Nick Tuths for the heads-up).
The Republican governor said about 385,000 enrolled between April, when the Healthy Michigan program launched, and Monday. His administration had expected 322,000 signups by year’s end.
“At that level, we’re adding over 9,000 patients a week,” Snyder said at an endorsement event at the Michigan State Medical Society, an East Lansing-based professional association of physicians. “It’s outstanding progress.”
Progress, that is, implementing a key element of President Obama’s signature domestic-policy achievement.
There are, of course, multiple angles to this. Michigan’s Eclectablog, for example, noted that local Tea Partiers are not at all pleased by the sight of a Republican governor bragging about ACA implementation. For that matter, local Democrats are eager to remind the state that Snyder was not initially an eager proponent of Medicaid expansion, and the governor’s delays cost the state money.
Rep. Mark Schauer (D), Snyder’s very competitive rival, said Michigan’s slow adoption of Medicaid expansion ended up costing the state roughly $600 million.
To be sure, these details matter. But I’m nevertheless struck by the broader political circumstances.
We’ve talked quite a bit lately about the changes in the prevailing winds surrounding the politics of health care, but I don’t think it’s fully sunk in for the political establishment just yet.
It was just earlier this year that the Affordable Care Act was perceived as a disaster of epic proportions. It would not only destroy Obama’s presidency, it was a Watergate-meets-Katrina catastrophe that threatened the very nature of progressive governance. For the GOP, running against “Obamacare” would be their first, second, and third priorities in the 2014 midterms.
But with 47 days to go before Election Day, one of the nation’s most vulnerable Republican governors is running on ACA benefits. Why? Because he sees it as a political winner.
As for Michigan Republicans’ hopes of using Schauer’s vote for the Affordable Care Act against him in the fall, that’s going to be awfully difficult now.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Regarding the ACA, she has been pegged as
"ambivalent," "walking a tightrope,", and "dodging the question." With her opponent making an ass out of himself on the subject, it's a damn shame she doesn't run ON it. I have never subscribed to the notion that running as GOP Lite is a good idea. Emphasizing their differences particularly on this issue in my view would be an excellent move.
Nice to see you. 
benefiting from the ACA in GA, me among them, even though the lousy gov won't sign onto Medicaid.
And lovely to see you-hope all is well! 
This is from June 24, 2014
Gov. Steve Beshear Urges Fellow Democrats To Take Obamacare 'And Run With It'
"WASHINGTON -- Fresh off a six-month period in which his state defied expectations to become one of Obamacare's defining success stories, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) sees room for additional growth.
Beshear told The Huffington Post that he has had conversations with several insurance companies interested in entering Kentucky's health care exchange when open enrollment begins again this November. And though many of the 420,000 state residents who obtained insurance this past cycle were the so-called low-hanging fruit -- people either desperate for coverage or eligible for Medicaid -- Beshear's expectation is that word-of-mouth testimonials will persuade those who didn't sign up already that it's a good buy."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/steve-beshear-obamacare_n_5525970.html
What a sweetheart~
promising to Expand Medicaid (our Badgercare here in WI). I just heard about it this am but have not yet seen the TV ad
I used to tell him his head was as hard as a rock. Looks like I was right
No worries though because it will get fixed and then we'll have single payer.
Yeah, those pesky health insurance companies will surely allow that.
