The repugicans Have Failed As Obamacare Enrollment Spreads Like Wildfire In Red States

Despite the protests of repugicans and red state wingnuts, millions of people in repugican misled states have enrolled in the federal health insurance exchange. The repugican efforts to stop Obamacare at the state level have been a complete failure.

Politico reported:

But from Maine to Mississippi, Texas to Wisconsin, enrollment numbers keep rising, no matter how they are sliced — total number of people enrolled, percentage of eligible people getting covered, the overall drop in the uninsured rate.

Those gains pose a challenge in the coming months for repugicans, who face the prospect that millions of people in 37 states will lose insurance subsidies if the Supreme Court rules against the Obama administration in King v. Burwell this June.

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study found that a ruling against the administration would disproportionately affect people who are white, Southern and employed — a demographic crucial to the repugican base. The foundation estimated that 6.3 million people could lose coverage if the subsidies end. Of those, 82 percent have modest incomes but are not poor, 62 percent live in the South and 61 percent are white.

The repugicans who thought that they were stopping the law by refusing to set up their own state exchanges have created a trap for themselves. Florida, Maine, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina have all covered at least 40% of their eligible residents under the federal exchange. Arkansas also depends on subsidies to fund their “private option” plan. All of these states will face an immediate backlash if the Supreme Court rules that only states that have set up exchanges are eligible for subsidies.

In spite of their efforts to deny their residents access to affordable health care, millions of wingnuts are enrolling. Pressure will grow on repugicans if their residents lose their subsidies. The vast majority of those who lose their subsidies live in states that are misled by repugicans. President Obama has won. The president was correct. All people want access to affordable health care. This isn’t a liberal or wingnut issue. The repugicans express a burning desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they will be outraged if their subsidies are taken away.

The great irony is that by not setting up their own exchanges red state repugicans have dug their own graves. The American people have spoken. The repugicans have lost the Obamacare war.