In Tuesday’s White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer outlined a series of brief anecdotes detailing the struggles Americans have faced under Obamacare. “These are the stories that really matter to millions of Americans who are suffering under Obamacare,” Spicer said, “and these are the stories that are on the top of the president’s mind as he works to reforming our health care system.”
Fair enough. Those stories are essential.
But what about the stories of Americans who have benefitted from Obamacare? Despite the legislation’s failures, those stories exist too.
Monday night, for instance, an MSNBC special in West Virginia coal country gave several rural Americans, many of whom voted for Trump, a rare platform to explain the ways Obamacare has benefitted their families. To borrow Spicer’s phrasing, do their “stories” not “matter”? Are their stories not “on the top of the president’s mind”?
Conservative repeal and reform efforts will generate more affordable high-quality options for consumers, but Republicans need to acknowledge and confront head-on the stories of people who will lose benefits when Obamacare is repealed.
In a country of more than 300 million people, it’s exceptionally easy to cherry pick anecdotes that serve your own side of the argument. President Obama mastered that art in his desperate efforts to sell the bill.
People are suffering under the ACA and the need for conservative reform is undeniable, but the White House should grapple with the stories of those who will be impacted negatively by its repeal if it also plans to tout the stories of those who will be helped.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
