Democrats and Republicans seek to claim control of health law politics

The dynamics of the issues have changed since the 2014 election, but health care continues to be a hot topic.   

Kaiser Health News: The Politics Of Health In 2014 Aren't What You Think
Last year, the GOP playbook for keeping the U.S. House in 2014 and winning the Senate consisted of a fairly simple strategy: Run against Obamacare. But now that the 2014 races are starting to take shape, that strategy is looking not so simple after all. For example, at least a few Democrats are fighting back – using Republican opposition to the health law's expansion of Medicaid as a part of their own campaigns. Indeed, Democratic senators in two states are trying to capitalize on Republican opposition to the health law's expansion of Medicaid (Rovner, 5/22).

The New York Times: Conservatives Draft Manifesto To Help Republicans Attract Middle-Class Voters
Hoping to push their agenda ahead of the presidential election, a group of prominent conservatives has devised a 121-page policy manifesto aimed at giving the Republican Party a message that will attract some of the middle-class voters the party lost in recent White House races. The document, to be unveiled Thursday, features eight essays with proposals on issues including health care, taxes and education. The authors hope the book will help Republicans address the economic anxieties of Americans and nudge the party from its most polarizing positions and constant confrontations with President Obama (Martin, 5/21).

In Kentucky -

The Associated Press: Ky. Democrat Mum On Question Of 'Obamacare' Vote
Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes on Wednesday twice refused to say whether she would have voted for President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Asked two times whether she'd have voted for the 2010 overhaul, the Kentucky Democrat who is challenging Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told The Associated Press: "I, when we are in the United States Senate, will work to fix the Affordable Care Act" (5/21).

And news from the halls of Congress -

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Single-Payer Advocates Hit Capitol With New Sense Of Reality
Advocates for a single-payer "Medicare for all" health system are fanning out across Capitol Hill this week, lobbying members of Congress. But years of mostly fruitless struggles – and watching the intense opposition to the much less sweeping Affordable Care Act – appears to have left them with a much more clear-eyed view of what it will take for them to accomplish their goal (Rovner, 5/21).