Groups form strategy for campaign against ACA repeal

More details are beginning to emerge about how a coalition of advocacy groups plans to win Americans’ hearts and minds in the fight against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack is expected to play a leading role in the newly formed coalition, which also includes groups like the Center for American Progress, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the National Partnership for Women & Families, Community Catalyst and Doctors for America, Politico reports. Leslie Dach, a former top staffer at the Department of Health and Human Services, is also a key figure.

The groups are planning a campaign that will illustrate how many people in each state would lose coverage and how healthcare providers could be hurt if the ACA is repealed, according to the article. To communicate their message, they will hold rallies and run ads on social media as well as reach out to lawmakers by lobbying them in their home districts and arranging for them to meet ACA enrollees.

Already, the left-leaning Urban Institute has released an analysis that estimates a partial repeal of the ACA through budget reconciliation could increase the number of uninsured Americans by nearly 30 million. 

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Democrats, meanwhile, are already talking about how to make outrage over the effects of an ACA repeal into a politically damaging issue for Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections, according to The Hill. When it comes to an ACA repeal, “I wouldn’t want to be a Republican member of Congress as this moves forward,” Justin Barasky, the former communications director of a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, told the publication.

Republicans, though, aren’t deterred in their quest to repeal the law, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., confirming this week that it will be an early priority next year, FierceHealthPayer has reported.