ACA enrollment totals soar as Republicans renew attacks

For proponents of the Affordable Care Act, all of the recent news surrounding the reform law and the system it helped create has been encouraging. The ACA is working well, it’s about as popular as it’s ever been, and as The Washington Post reported, new enrollment data is adding to Obamacare’s winning streak.

For health care advocates, the data is encouraging on its own, and it reflects what’s possible when congressional Democrats lower premiums and an administration commits to covering as many Americans as possible.

But circling back to our recent coverage, there’s a political dimension to this that didn’t exist up until fairly recently. Indeed, when President Joe Biden issued an official White House statement on the ACA enrollment data, it celebrated the totals before shifting attention to the reform law’s Republican opponents.

“We need to build on the progress we’ve made by making lower premiums permanent. But Republicans in Congress have a different vision,” the Democrat said. “Their recent budget would get rid of the improvements I signed into law, raising costs for millions of people. Over the last decade, extreme Republicans in Congress have blocked efforts to lower health care costs, and they’re still trying to end the Affordable Care Act, just as my predecessor tried and failed to do.

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act would throw these 21 million people off their coverage, and end Medicaid coverage for millions more. It would return to the days when insurance companies could rip Americans off by denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, charge women more than men, and make older adults pay astronomical health care premiums based on their age. We must not and will not go back.”

It’s not exactly a secret that Democrats would love for health care to be a central issue of this year’s elections, and to the party’s delight, Republicans and their presumptive presidential nominee have spent a surprising amount of time in recent months helping advance the Democratic strategy.

Indeed, Donald Trump, who largely ignored the ACA after leaving the White House, has repeatedly targeted Obamacare in increasingly explicit terms. As recently as a month ago, the former president posted a video to his social media platform attacking the late Sen. John McCain for not helping him “terminate” the ACA in 2017.

Trump soon after vowed to tear down the nation’s existing health care system and replace it with something he said would be “better” — though his assurances didn’t include any details.

What’s more, as we’ve discussed, some congressional Republicans are adding their voices to this debate. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told Axios in late November, “I think Obamacare has been one of the biggest deceptions on the American people. I mean just look at your health care premiums.” (Premium costs, in reality, have gone down, not up.)

The same report added that Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, who’d likely chair the Senate Finance Committee if the GOP retakes control of the chamber, also said he’s open to repeal-and-replace plans.

Remember, the Republicans’ 2017 effort to tear down the ACA was a disaster for the party, which Democrats exploited to help take back the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats would love little more than to have this fight again in 2024 — a recent national survey from NBC News found the party with a 23-point advantage over the GOP on health care — which makes it all the more notable when many of the Republicans’ leaders generously agree to say exactly what Democrats want them to say.

It’s against this backdrop that American consumers are signing up for ACA coverage in record numbers — coverage that would be at great risk if Republicans follow through on their stated goals.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.