Article originally published in The Palm Beach Post
By Robert Weiner and Gene Lambey
Democrats and other supporters of Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, are mismanaging their message. They need to make clear that it helps all 304 million Americans with health insurance, not just the poor and other new enrollees.
Reverend William J. Barber, charismatic leader for the Poor People's Campaign, said on Feb. 19, "The poor and low wealth people are 41% of the vote." That may be true but it's not enough to beat Donald Trump in the swing states or the popular vote across America.
Barber is reducing his potential coalition -- and so are Biden surrogates like HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, who spoke to the National Press Club on Feb. 8. Becerra said in the creation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), informally Obamacare, enrolled "nearly 21-and-a-half million Americans today."
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Becerra only lightly mentioned that his department, as allowed by law, is negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices. Merck and other drug companies are suing against Medicare price negotiations but it is in the legislation, and Becerra told the Press Club the negotiations are proceeding.
The plus side of Obamacare is not just about adding new enrollees but cutting the uninsured non-elderly in half, from 18 percent to 9 percent. Becerra and other advocates need to say clearly and boldly that because of Obamacare, ALL 304 million Americans with health insurance now are covered for pre-existing conditions, negotiations on lowering drug prices already have caused a big drop to $35 insulin for seniors (and soon regardless of age) instead of hundreds on each bill. Next year seniors will have their whole prescription drugs bill capped at $2,000 total annually. Children to age 26 are now covered on family plans, and preventive care for all is provided. Americans need all of this to improve our mortality rates, yet if you ask Republicans what they would leave out of their "new" replacement plan, they say none of these provisions.
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