Some states with tight Senate races are seeing their Obamacare rates climbing next year even more than the average 22 percent increase announced by the Obama administration on Monday, as Republicans use the spikes to try to get the upper hand in a close battle for control of the chamber.
Two states with very tight Senate races are facing big increases: Pennsylvania with 53 percent and North Carolina with 40 percent. Incumbent Sens. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and Richard Burr in North Carolina are in close re-election battles.
In Illinois, another close Senate battle between Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth and incumbent GOP Sen. Mark Kirk, the rates will rise by up to 43 percent. While Duckworth is leading by about 7 points, according to RealClearPolitics, she could be hurt by the soaring premiums.
Other states housing close Senate races didn’t have as high of rate increases. Nevada plans will rise by an average 6 percent and New Hampshire by 2 percent. Florida, another state featuring an increasingly close race, will have a rate increase of 14 percent.
In Missouri, where GOP Sen. Roy Blunt is up by about 1 point over challenger Jason Kander, according to RealClearPolitics, Obamacare rates will increase by an average of 18 percent.
Former Sen. Russ Feingold also holds a 5-point lead over Republican incumbent Ron Johnson. However, he could have to address rate hikes of up to 16 percent.
The state that had the biggest increase among all states, Arizona with 116 percent, also features a Senate race, but incumbent Sen. John McCain holds a comfortable lead in many polls.
The National Senate Republican Committee pounced on the premium results, shooting off press releases pointing out support for the law from Democratic Senate candidates Katie McGinty and Maggie Hassan. McGinty is running against Toomey in Pennsylvania and Hassan against Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire.
The committee didn’t confirm whether it is producing any new ads highlighting the price spikes, but a spokeswoman said it would press the issue in the closing days of the election.
“Come Election Day, voters will have a full understanding that this reckless policy championed by desperate Democrats means more of their hard-earned paycheck will go to straight to rising health care costs,” said Andrea Bozek, the committee’s communications director.
Toomey’s campaign didn’t say whether it would cut new ads highlighting the rates, but the senator has made it an issue throughout the campaign. The campaign said it would hold McGinty accountable for “her liberal agenda.”
Some Senate races already were focusing on Obamacare, with proposed rates from insurers having been known for several months.
Burr’s campaign in North Carolina has been focusing on the lack of competition in the state, noting that about 90 percent of counties will have only one Obamacare insurer: Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Last week, the state announced a rate hike of 24 percent for Blue Cross plans.
“We were out in front of the news cycle because there are unique problems because there are so few insurer options,” an aide to Burr’s campaign told the Washington Examiner.
The campaign did not confirm that it would produce any new ads off the rates.
“There are two weeks left. There are many different issues on the table,” the aide said. “Obamacare is certainly an issue … we welcome a contrast with [Democratic opponent State Sen. Deborah] Ross.”
Americans for Prosperity, a group sponsored by the Koch brothers, has already rolled out a $1 million ad campaign last week focusing on digital ads that hammer Senate candidates across eight states: Missouri, Wisconsin, Nevada, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina.
It doesn’t appear that the latest rate hikes will change the group’s plan.
“These rate increases have been trickling out over time so the federal number should be distressing but not really surprising,” said Christopher Neefus, a spokesman for the group.
He said that in addition to the $1 million ad buy, the group has been sending out mailers targeting Democratic Senate candidates.
Neefus added that the rate hike announcement does “inject this back into the public’s consciousness.”
Before the adminstration’s announcement this week, Republican candidates hadn’t been focusing too much on Obamacare.
In September, findings from the group Kantar Media, which tracks political ads, showed that the law was discussed in less than 10 percent of ad spending in Senate races.
Major conservative groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce funneled in negative ads about the law in the past couple of years. Since Obamacare was passed in 2010, about $1 billion has been spent on advertising, Kantar found.
