Demographics help shape lawmakers' views on health law

Most of the congressional districts with the greatest numbers of uninsured people are represented by Democrats, according to The Associated Press. News outlets also report on how Georgia's gubernatorial candidates and North Dakota's congressional candidates differ on the health law.

The Associated Press: Dem Push For Health Law Rooted In Demographics
While much of America was upset about the botched rollout of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, most Democrats in Congress were still willing to give the law a chance to work. Without the law, many of their constituents wouldn't have health insurance. ... If a community has a large concentration of people without health insurance, there is a good chance it is represented by a Democrat in Congress. Of the 50 congressional districts with the most uninsured people, all but nine are represented by Democrats(Ohlemacher, 10/16).

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Gov. Nathan Deal and Jason Carter On Top Issues
[Jason] Carter wants to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, casting it as a fiscal necessity. … [Gov. Nathan] Deal rejects Medicaid expansion and says it would inevitably cost Georgia billions of dollars in new spending (Blustein).

The Associated Press: US House Candidates Debate Health Care Law
Two of the three candidates for U.S. House in North Dakota say they would vote to repeal the federal health care law, while the third says he'd rather fix it. The Bismarck Tribune reports that incumbent Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, Democratic challenger George Sinner and Libertarian Party candidate Jack Seaman squared off in a debate Wednesday evening. Cramer reiterated his stance that the Affordable Care Act is a massive federal overreach and a disaster. Seaman said he also thinks the law should be repealed. Sinner said there are many parts of the law that need to be fixed, but that there are many good provisions as well (10/16).

And then there's the fact checking -

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Obama's Claim That Obamacare Has Helped Produce A '$1,800 Tax Cut'
Remember that 2008 campaign promise touted by then-candidate Obama -; that his health care law would reduce the cost of premiums by $2,500 by 2014? As we have noted, he was quickly called out by fact checkers for making a dubious claim based on shaky assumptions. Moreover, the pledge came with a large asterisk: He was not saying that premiums would drop by $2,500, but that health-care costs per person would be that much lower than anticipated. Of course, the Affordable Care Act turned out to be different from the plan Obama discussed during the campaign, and longer to implement than expected, so the White House in 2011 amended the pledge to say it would $2,000 in savings by 2019 (Kessler, 10/17).