Now that HealthCare.gov is working, getting as many enrollments as possible is the top priority. So is working to dispel some of the lingering bad feelings about the law stemming from the disastrous roll-out of the web site. To those ends, President Obama and congressional Democrats are
stepping up what will be a sustained PR offensive. The efforts will tout the benefits of the law, but also home in on how Republicans want to take those benefits away.
As part of that political counteroffensive, which began this week, Democratic congresswomen challenged Republicans to present an alternative that would provide free preventive health services for the 105 million Americans who have already received them under the law. At the same time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee singled out about 60 House Republicans, accusing them of plotting to take away immunizations for children, cancer screenings and mammograms. [...]
Three weeks ago, House Democratic “strike teams” initiated a daily morning conference call to go over health care messages. On Wednesday, more than 40 congressional aides, including Senate aides and administration officials, had joined.
House Democrats have begun passing along positive stories in their districts — of constituents obtaining insurance for the first time and gaining access to preventive care — during coordinated morning speeches that have become dueling anecdotes from the health care wars. On Thursday, members will focus on pre-existing conditions; next week, the theme is Medicaid expansion.
At least one Republican, Rep.Scott Rigell of Virginia, is backing away from repeal, acknowledging that the law is helping some people and it's probably too late for repeal, saying at this point the law needs "more of a course change than a course reversal." That's one lone Republican—there's a raft of rabid would-be repealers among House Republicans who probably don't agree, and probably won't stop looking for some way, any way to repeal the law. But now that the horror stories are fading and enrollments are surging, those people will be even easier to marginalize.
They'll be a lot easier to marginalize in November if the system has enrolled the 7 million experts say it needs to be on a sustainable footing. That makes this big push from Democrats all the more critical.