Vulnerable Dems huddle over health changes
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Ahead of
yet another major announcement about changes to ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act) the Obama Administration recently
took the rare step of naming more than a dozen Democrats it had worked with in close consultation." All of
the Democrats the White House cited are up for re-election in 2014 and most are either vulnerable or
find themselves early targets by the GOP for their past support of ObamaCare.
The administration recently announced it would allow insurers to continue offering health plans that do not meet ObamaCares minimum coverage requirements.
Prolonging the keep your plan" fix to accommodate for President Obamas broken promise about the law will avoid another wave of health policy cancellations otherwise expected in critical weeks before Election Day 2014.
The administrations announcement of the delay
singled out 13 Democrats that helped craft that change.
The officials said that included Senators:
- Mary Landrieu (D-La.)
- Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
- Mark Udall (D-Co.) and
- Mark Warner (D-Va.) consulted with the administration on the matter.
Warner faces a challenge from
former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie in Virginia while Landrieu who has consistently been a vocal critic of the botched HealthCare.gov rollout is seeking reelection in deep-red Louisiana.
Analysts had pegged Udall as vulnerable in Colorado when
Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Co.) announced hed be entering the race.
A similar story is playing out in New Hampshire where Shaheen finds herself up against former Sen.
Scott Brown (R-Mass.).
Republicans have vowed to make ObamaCare the primary issue in the 2014 election cycle and have already begun hammering Landrieu and Warner over their support of the law as well as other vulnerable Senate Democrats like
Mark Pryor (Ark.)
Kay Hagan (N.C.) and
Mark Begich (Alaska).
And on the House side the administration said Congressmen:
-
Ron Barber (D-Ariz.)
- Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.)
- Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.)
- Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.)
- Ann Kuster (D-N.H.)
- Scott Peters (D-Calif.)
- Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) provided input as did
- Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) whos running for Senate.
Bishop Esty Scott Peters Kuster Sinema and Barber are among members of the new Democratic coalition that arrived in 2012 and are seeking to hold on through whats expected to be a difficult environment for Democratic incumbents in 2014.
In a recent conference call with reporters a senior administration official said he could understand why some folks could look at" the changes as being politically motivated but insisted they were not made with an eye for boosting Democrats in the 2014 mid-term elections.
The motivation here is really to implement the law in the way it should be implemented" the official said.
This is the right way to do it I feel like were doing this the right way for the right reasons."
The official said the administration made itself available to both parties" but that Republicans in the House particularly are more interested in repealing the law rather than helping fix it.
