Obamacare (as the undoing of the Republican Party)
What if the thing Republicans spent years demonizing turns out to be a lifesaver for tens of millions of Americans?
It’s already happened for former Republican congressional staffer Clint Murphy.
The cancer survivor was recently denied health insurance because of his sleep apnea. That was too much. After years of fighting the Democratic agenda, he went on Facebook and told his conservative friends what he thought about their never-ending effort to destroy Obamacare: “When you say you’re against it, you’re saying that you don’t want people like me to have health insurance.”
To many, this kind of experience suggests that self-interest is the only way to convince Republicans that all Americans need health insurance. But self-interest when it comes to health insurance isn’t to be dismissed lightly.
“Health insurance isn’t like other forms of insurance,” writes Bloomberg‘s Ezra Klein. “It’s not protection against the unlikely; it’s insulation against the inevitable. Most people never use their fire insurance. Almost everyone uses their health insurance. Eventually.”
The New York Times‘ Paul Krugman keeps saying that the Republicans’ biggest fear is going to come true: Obamacare will work.
This may be wishful thinking but keep in mind that 26 million Americans will be getting tax credits to help them buy insurance. Many of them have no idea that this assistance is coming. Millions more will get completely subsidized Medicaid and millions more will find out that they could be getting Medicaid if the Republicans in their state would just take the coverage their residents will be paying for.
There’s no doubt that there will be hurdles (and roadblocks put up by Republicans). The right is going to blame every splinter in every tongue depressor on Obamacare. But there are literally tens of millions of opportunities for Americans to be better off because of this law. If just a fraction of the Americans who can benefit do, gratitude for the Democrats who passed it or anger at the Republicans who have spent years trying to repeal the law with no replacement to offer could be enough to change the electorate in ways we cannot fathom today.