Democrats turn to face crowd on health care reform

By Delen Goldberg

Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010 | 2 a.m.

Health care reform was supposed to be the great Democratic achievement this congressional session. And indeed it was — for Democrats.

For Republicans, on the other hand, the health care reform bill was an example of government overstepping its bounds and further inflating the deficit. For some Republican candidates this election season, it is Exhibit A in their argument to take control of Congress.

Given its polarizing effect, Democratic incumbents are walking a fine line as they tout the health care bill to voters. Recognizing that Nevadans, like citizens nationally, are divided on the issue, Democrats want to promote the bill but are wary of handing their Republican opponents any easy talking points.

Their strategy:

• Gather friendly audiences to hear about the benefits of a reformed system.

• Highlight its advantages for people with insurance and without.

• Hope the media pick up on the story and spread the message.

“Saying nothing is like an admission of guilt,” Kenneth Fernandez, a UNLV political science professor, said of Democrats’ approach to the new law. “You have to say something, and you have to attempt to define the policy in a positive way.”

The Democrats’ blueprint was on display during health care roundtables hosted this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Reps. Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley. The Democratic candidates brought in U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to tout the benefits and significance of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

It was a sharp contrast to forums held nationally in advance of the health care vote. Protesters disrupted the gatherings, drowning out speeches. And opponents capitalized, spreading the message that government was ramming national health care down Americans’ throats.

Democrats don’t want to replay that scene five weeks before Election Day.

“You preach to the choir in these friendly environments,” Fernandez said. “There’s less fear of it being hijacked and twisted in a way that you have no control over. The strategy makes sense.”

A CNN poll released this week found that 47 percent of voters, and 51 percent of nonaffiliated voters, want the health care bill repealed.

Republicans also have a game plan: Continue to hammer Democratic incumbents over “Obamacare” and its costs, which are estimated to reach $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

“I don’t speak anywhere where somebody doesn’t ask me about the impact of the health care reform on their situation,” Republican House candidate Joe Heck said. “People are angry, and I think it will motivate them to get out and vote.”

Congress passed health care reform in March. Since then, some incumbent Democrats nationally have tried to distance themselves from the bill. Not Titus.

“We’re not running away from it,” Titus said. Instead, she is hosting controlled events such as the one with Sebelius to promote what she calls “one of the greatest accomplishments of this administration.”

“The more we get out information, the more people like the bill ... and the harder it is for the other side to take it away,” she said.

Indeed, Democrats have work to do educating the public on the new law.

Six months after the health care bill was passed, an Associated Press poll found more than half of Americans mistakenly believed the new law will raise taxes. In fact, the only immediate tax hike is a 10 percent sales tax on indoor tanning. A Harris Poll in July found that 82 percent of people thought the health care bill would result in the rationing of health care (it won’t) and 63 percent weren’t sure whether the law would increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid (it will).

Even so, the Titus campaign won’t make health care reform a banner issue, a spokesman said — unless Heck provides it good fodder. The Titus campaign has criticized Heck for flip-flopping on health care reform.

“You have my word that when I’m in Congress I will do everything possible to repeal this horrible bill,” Heck wrote on his campaign website the day Congress voted on the measure.

Two months later, Heck told Jon Ralston on “Face to Face”: “I don’t think you’ve ever heard me say let’s repeal the whole bill.”

This week, Heck explained to the Sun that he supports several provisions in the health care bill, such as those requiring insurance companies to cover children with pre-existing conditions and preventing companies from retroactively canceling a person’s coverage. But he opposes the “extras” thrown into the bill (mothers’ nursing rooms, for example), as well as the tax on people who choose to forgo coverage, and the lack of tort reform.

“I approach it from the idea of repeal, repair and replace,” Heck said. “Some parts of bill have nothing to do with health care and shouldn’t be part of the bill. Some things need repair to have them accomplish what they were meant to accomplish. And some things have good intentions but fail in application.”

Titus and Reid have made health care, in general, a central issue of their campaigns without highlighting for the broader public their support for health care reform. Reid and Titus instead have blasted their opponents on other health care issues, such as voting against mandates that would require insurance companies to pay for colonoscopies and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.

Of the past 20 ads Reid has released on television or online, only one mentions health care and focuses on the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which Congress passed in 2000.

Reid did promote this year’s health care law during a recent forum in Las Vegas, saying “in three years, everyone will have health insurance like I do.” Some in the audience heckled and booed Reid for the comment.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle hopes to capitalize on the negativity. She has vowed to repeal the health care bill if elected.

“First Harry Reid rammed through Obamacare against the wishes of the people, and now he’s actually campaigning on this monstrosity,” Angle spokesman Jerry Stacy said, adding that Reid’s stance shows how out of touch he is with Nevadans.

Reid and Titus maintain that as people come to understand the legislation, the more they’ll support it. Titus said she doesn’t think one vote — even a big one — will make or break her re-election.

Even if it does, Titus said she’s proud she supported health care reform.

“There are some things that are more important than the vote count,” she said.