A group of Republican senators fighting for their political lives are barely touching what could be Democrats’ most uncomfortable topic this year: Obamacare.
In sharp contrast to past elections, GOP lawmakers aren’t making President Obama’s healthcare law a front-and-center issue. Yet it’s the first year they have actual proof the Affordable Care Act isn’t working as well as its supporters had hoped, as insurers seek double-digit price hikes and exit the marketplaces due to heavy losses.
Sens. Pat Toomey, Mark Kirk, Kelly Ayotte, Marco Rubio and Richard Burr, whose races will play a key role in determining whether the GOP can hold onto the Senate next year, have said little about the healthcare law on the campaign trail and have devoted their advertising dollars to other topics.
“It’s not anyone’s number one issue against the Democrats like it used to be,” said Republican pollster Brock McCleary.
But consumer healthcare choices are dwindling and prices are rising by double digits in states such as Pennsylvania, where Toomey may very well lose his seat to Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. All of the state’s 67 counties had at least three insurers selling products last year, but next year that is set to drop to 28 counties, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Instead of trying to tie McGinty to the marketplace troubles, Toomey has spent most of his campaign trying to make her look weak on national security issues. A Toomey spokesman said he didn’t know whether the campaign plans any Obamacare-themed ads this fall.
That has left Democrats free to argue that they want to improve the law, without having to defend it from Republican attacks. McGinty spokesman Sean Coit says his boss is seeking to fix the law’s problems, while Toomey “doesn’t have anything to offer.”
“Whenever she talks about it, she says this isn’t a perfect bill by any stretch,” Coit told the Washington Examiner. “The rate increases are seriously worrying. People need to have not only options, but affordable options.”
Burr, in North Carolina, and Kirk, in Illinois, haven’t run any ads or levied many Obamacare-themed attacks at their opponents, either. In Illinois, marketplace insurers are raising prices by an average of 46 percent, and Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna are seeking to raise their rates by 19 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
New Hampshire’s marketplace recently lost a co-op that had requested a 43 percent rate hike, leaving behind four insurers. One of them, Minuteman Health, wants to raise prices an average of 30 percent for one-fourth of the state’s enrollees.
Ayotte, who is being challenged there by Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, has run ads on job creation and the environment, but not the healthcare law.
With two months remaining before the election, Republicans still have time to hammer Democrats over Obamacare. Most candidates save their advertising dollars for the final weeks before an election, when the most voters are paying attention.
Republican political analysts said they’re not quite sure why struggling incumbents aren’t doing more to capitalize off the law, as it polls well among the public.
“This seems like low-hanging fruit,” said GOP political consultant Ron Bonjean. “Part of the issue is Republicans have been talking about it and voting on it till they’re blue in the face. Now is the time to capitalize, when voters are paying attention.”
