WASHINGTON—Election Day 2016 will raise the curtain on the final act in the nation’s long-running political drama over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
If Republican Donald Trump wins, the unraveling begins.
“We have an obligation to the people who voted for us to proceed with ’repeal and replace,'” said Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican.
If Democrat Hillary Clinton goes to the White House, it gets very difficult for Republicans to keep a straight face about repealing “Obamacare.”
“There just won’t be any credible way to keep talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA and a supporter of the law.
After years of debating health care politics and policies, Americans remain divided over the 2010 law, which was passed without a single Republican vote when Democrats still controlled both houses of Congress. What happens next could affect health insurance for nearly everyone.
It’s not just the millions who have gained coverage through expanded Medicaid in a majority of states and subsidized private health insurance in every part of the country.
It’s also anyone with an existing medical condition who now can apply for health insurance without fear of being turned away. It’s millennials weighing paying monthly premiums against paying a fine for remaining uninsured. It’s women whose birth control is covered free by their employer, and parents who can keep late-blooming kids on their workplace plans until age 26.
