The U.S. Senate race out of North Carolina is tightening as Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan and Republican challenger Thom Tillis battle over health care.
Both Hagan and Tillis supporters have attacked the opposing side for their purported endorsement of specific health care policies. Hagan has been accused of supporting a faulty Affordable Care Act, and others have claimed Tillis would ruin health care for seniors. Observers anticipate that health care will continue to be a centerpiece in the 2014 race.
“Like most things in the world of politics, the people who are looking for things will find them,” said Barak Richman, Edgar P. and Elizabeth C. Bartlett professor of law and health care policy expert. “North Carolina is a deeply polarized state, and Obamacare has probably deepened the polarity.”
Last month, conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity launched a new attack ad on Hagan—condemning her support for the Affordable Care Act. Nonprofit, pro-Democratic group Patriot Majority USA retaliated—claiming that Tillis “supports a plan that would end Medicare as we know it.”
President Barack Obama’s promise that, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it”—a sentiment echoed by Hagan—won the Politifact 2013 Lie of the Year award and cost Hagan on the campaign. More than 473,000 people in North Carolina have received cancellation notices for their insurance policy as a result of the Affordable Care Act, according to The Raleigh News and Observer.
“It’s hard to say if all the damage has already been done or if there may be more,” said David Rohde, Ernestine Friedl professor of political science. “Either of those is a possibility.”
Hagan’s approval rating is at its lowest yet—with only one-third of North Carolina registered voters approving of her job performance, according to the latest Elon University poll. Hagan is the only politician in the poll whose rating dropped since November.
Ted Benson, chair of the Durham Democratic Party, said that the cancellations were the fault of insurance companies, not Hagan.
“Insurers chose to cancel their plans,” Benson said. “The insurance companies are adapting the law to their own interest when the assumption was that they would act responsibly.”
Pressed as to whether she knew about the limitations of the health care law after a press conference last month, Hagan replied with, “It wasn’t clear that insurance companies were selling substandard policies.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest insurance company in North Carolina, said Hagan’s statements were untrue, according to The Raleigh News and Observer.
Hagan’s voting record on the health care law will continue to negatively impact her campaign, said N.C. GOP Communications Director Daniel Keylin.
“She’ll have to run an overwhelmingly negative campaign since she can’t run on her record, especially when you consider her biggest accomplishment in the Senate was casting the deciding vote for Obamacare,” Keylin wrote in an email Wednesday.
As critical as Republicans were of the Affordable Care Act, they had no better alternatives, Benson said.
“They don’t have a plan,” Benson said. “Show me the Republican plan. They don’t have another solution to this.”
Patriot Majority’s attack ad accused Tillis of supporting a health care plan which would “force seniors to spend up to $1,700 more for prescriptions,” in reference to the premium support plan proposed by U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin.
Richman acknowledged that the Ryan plan would likely increase the costs of health care for seniors.
“If the cost of health care continues acceleration above inflation in the long run, individual retirees will have to go out of pocket, so it’s probably true,” Richman said.
Junior Jordan Deloatch, president of the Duke Democrats, criticized privatizing health care insurance.
“If we privatize insurance, we’ll see upward pressure on price,” Deloatch said. “It just makes health care more expensive on seniors and the government is not paying it.”
Senior Taylor Imperiale, president of Duke College Republicans, did not respond to requests for comment.
Tillis has acknowledged positive aspects of Ryan’s plan, in which beneficiaries would be paid by the government an amount they could use for private insurance premiums.
Richman said that neither the Affordable Care Act, nor the premium support plan, fixed the biggest health care issue—the cost.
“It’s mostly rearranging furniture on the Titanic,” Richman said.
Representatives from both the Hagan and Tillis campaigns did not respond to request for comment.
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