Democrats Need to Run on Health Reform

The November elections are still more than six months away - an eternity in politics - and the playing field may be shifting more than some seem to realize when it comes to the Affordable Health Care Act, derisively known as Obamacare amongst those in the GOP who want to restore the Gilded Age and throw a majority of average Americans on the trash heap.  Ironically, many in the base of the GOP are too stupid to understand that folks like the Koch brothers have then targeted for the trash heap as well.  Despite the AHCA, America's healthcare system remains in crisis and, in my view, the only real solution is a national health care system that would put voracious health insurance companies out of business and force real reform in how medical care is delivered.  An editorial in the New York Times argues that instead of fleeing from the AHCA, Democrats need to campaign on it and healthcare reform.  Here are column excepts:

The Republican attack machine, fueled by millions of dollars from the Koch brothers, has Democrats so rattled about the health reform law that many don’t want to talk about it. They’re happy to run on equal pay for women, or a higher minimum wage, or immigration reform — all of which provide important contrasts with a do-nothing Republican Party — but they haven’t said much about the biggest social accomplishment of the Obama administration.

On Thursday, President Obama had a suggestion for them: How about standing up for the Affordable Care Act? Democrats, he said at a news conference, “should forcefully defend and be proud of the fact that millions of people” have been helped by the law — people who now have health insurance for the first time, or were not kicked off a policy when they got sick, or who can now leave a job without fear of being uninsured. “I don’t think we should apologize for it, and I don’t think we should be defensive about it,” he said. “I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell.”

Not only are the overall numbers strong, but a substantial portion of the sign-ups — 28 percent, so far — are between the ages of 18 and 34, a sign that healthy people are joining the system, which will help keep premiums affordable. That number should ideally be a little higher, but it is an unmistakable refutation of the predictions of failure from health care reform’s opponents.

That’s exactly the right tone to take, and the White House itself has been slow to take it, uncertain until a few weeks ago whether the law’s most basic goals would be met. Now that the law is proving to be even more successful than expected, it’s time for Democratic congressional candidates to remind voters what government can accomplish.

They can point out, as Mr. Obama did, that House Republicans have taken many votes to repeal the health law — and yet they have not voted on a single measure that would put people back to work rebuilding roads and water plants.

It’s important to move on to jobs and the economy, as Mr. Obama urged Congress to do. But first voters need to be reminded that government programs can improve life for all Americans. When one of those programs begins to do its job, its authors shouldn’t be afraid to say so.