The conservative Club for Growth aims to turn up the heat on more centrist Republicans to pressure them to support legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The group announced Thursday it is expanding a digital and TV ad campaign from targeting two centrist House lawmakers to 10. The ads, which will start rolling Thursday, aim to get centrist lawmakers on board with a deal that would let states opt out of key Obamacare insurance requirements.
“The Trump administration and conservatives rallied behind a deal — facilitated last week by Vice President [Mike] Pence — for state waivers of costly Obamacare regulations, but that can’t happen until moderates accept the deal,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh. “They have to repeal the regulations to repeal Obamacare.”
But it remains to be seen if the lawmakers can be swayed.
One of the lawmakers targeted, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, said during a town hall Wednesday that he is opposed to repealing a mandate on insurer price controls that keeps them from charging sicker people much more.
“”We are not going back to the days where you could underwrite where it becomes so expensive that you can’t afford [healthcare],” said Walden, a member of the centrist Tuesday Group and chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The conservative House Freedom Caucus wanted three mandates to be optional: coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, coverage of 10 essential health benefits and the price controls.
The caucus and outside groups such as Club for Growth believe the mandates are major hurdles to lowering premiums, but centrists worry about people with pre-existing conditions losing coverage.
Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows of North Carolina said Tuesday that he is close to a deal with GOP leadership and the White House.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer also said that the sides were close.
However, no deal has yet to emerge on the mandates. Before Congress left town last week, an amendment to the repeal bill was added to create high-risk pools.
The House is set to return from its two-week recess on April 25.
In addition to Walden, the lawmakers targeted in the spot are Reps. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Chris Collins of New York, Pat Tiberi of Ohio, Charlie Dent and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, and Evan Jenkins of West Virginia.
Collins and Kinzinger were targeted by Club for Growth earlier in the campaign.
