Republicans have a problem. Their healthcare repeal bills have been hugely unpopular and faced strong opposition, while Obamacare has gotten more popular. So how can they sell yet another bill that would strip coverage from millions of people and take away protections everyone relies on? They think they’ve found their answer: They’re not talking about their bill. They’re not really talking about Obamacare. Instead, they’re talking about Bernie Sanders’ bill that’s unlikely to get a vote in Congress, let alone become law anytime soon.
The top sections of Republican National Committee talking points “don’t address the bill at all, focusing instead on declaring Obamacare to be in a state of collapse and turning the current debate into a binary choice with Sanders’ single-payer bill,” Gideon Resnick and Sam Stein report.
"Obamacare failed spectacularly and devastated the American healthcare system," the talking points read. "If we allow for a complete government takeover, hardworking families nationwide will face crippling tax increases, higher wait times, and worse care."
Obamacare has been doing fine—at least until Donald Trump had his administration start undermining it—and it could be doing better if Republicans were interested in improving the American healthcare system rather than in throwing sick people to the wolves. But Republicans don’t want people focusing on a law that is helping them. Probably the only thing Republicans want less than that is for people to focus on what Republican healthcare bills would do to their coverage. It’s much better, from the GOP standpoint, to use Fox News appearances and threatening videos to shift people’s attention to scare tactics about an extremely hypothetical bill that Republicans can block.
The fact that Republicans want to talk about a bill they can prevent from even getting a vote more than they want to talk about either the current law or their proposed law tells you everything you need to know.
We haven’t won the battle to save health care yet. Republicans are STILL pushing to repeal Obamacare. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote “NO” on any repeal bill. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)