Barack Obama’s signature healthcare bill, ObamaCare, triumphed in Tuesday’s election after moths of failed attempts by Republicans to repeal it. Voters in Virginia and Maine backed the law, early exit polls show. About 40 percent of Virginians pointed out that healthcare was their priority in the gubernatorial race in which Democrat Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie.
In Maine, despite the governor vetoing an ObamaCare expansion multiple times, people demonstrated strong support for it, in a 59-41 vote. Democrats are hoping that these early victories mean they can boost initiatives for its expansion. ObamaCare currently covers over 20 million Americans.
“We have an opportunity to send a very clear signal to anyone who is spending time and money opposing the ACA. What is not unique to Maine is the support for ACA [and] the enthusiasm for expanding coverage. I think Maine is a great bellwether for the rest of the country,” said Jonathan Schleifer of the Fairness Project.
However, Maine Governor Paul LePage said the expansion would not be implemented until legislators find a a way to cover the costs without raising taxes, NBC News reports. As a result of Northam winning in Virginia, Democrats there now have a chance to expand Medicaid so that it covers almost 400,000 people. Efforts to do so have proven unsuccessful so far as lawmakers in the House of Delegates refused to expand. The Fairness Project, which funded the Maine initiative, is seeking to put the ObamaCare expansion on ballots in Utah and Idaho as well to include some features of the healthcare bill into state law.
“We need to end the conversation around repealing ObamaCare and make it very clear, as we did last night, that folks want to expand it,” Schleifer said.
Tuesday’s results show that ObamaCare remains popular as voters across the country rejected Republicans’ attempts to take it apart. Still, some polls show that the gap between supporters and those holding an unfavorable view of the Affordable Care Act is quite narrow.
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