Top Republican dismisses Facebook praise for ObamaCare

A top Republican in the House says praise on her Facebook page for ObamaCare is mainly for parts of the law that have bipartisan support.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s (R-Wash.) Facebook page has received enormous attention, after her plea for negative stories about the law drew comments from people applauding the law.

{mosads}McMorris Rodgers offered a response to the positive comments to The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., on Monday. 

“The stories are largely around pre-existing conditions and those that are getting health insurance up to age 26,” she said, adding that there is “broad, bipartisan support for those provisions.”

McMorris Rodgers, the House’s fourth-ranking Republican drew attention, after she put out a call for negative stories about the law.

“This week marks the 5th anniversary of #Obamacare being signed into law,” she wrote. “Whether it’s turned your tax filing into a nightmare, you’re facing skyrocketing premiums, or your employer has reduced your work hours, I want to hear about it.”

Her page was then flooded with positive comments about the Affordable Care Act.

“5 years of not waking up in the middle of the might panicked that my child won’t ever be able to get health insurance thanks to a brain tumor at the age of 2,” wrote a woman named Melissa Kelly. “Thank God for Obamacare.”

“I work for cancer care northwest,” wrote a man named Robert Fairfax. “We actually have more patients with insurance and fewer having to choose treatment over bankruptcy. Cathy, I’m a die hard conservative and I’m asking you to stop just slamming Obamacare. Fix it, change it or come up with a better idea! Thanks”

McMorris Rodgers and other House Republicans have voted many times to repeal the entire law. 

A spokeswoman referred The Hill to another Facebook post by McMorris Rodgers.

Three days after the post calling for stories about the healthcare law, she sought to assure her constituents that access to affordable healthcare was a priority.

“While the debate over health care continues, I want you to know one thing: your access to quality and affordable health care matters to me,” she wrote. “So I will continue to advance solutions that improve the quality of your care — no matter where you live, how much money you make, or what challenges you face. Your health care is not political — it is personal. And I will continue to fight to make it better.”

An Affordable Care Act alternative unveiled earlier this month by three House Republican committee chairmen, intended to be put in place if the Supreme Court guts the law in the case of King v. Burwell, would allow people to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, as ObamaCare does.

The alternative would also guarantee renewability of plans, making sure that people cannot be dropped because of medical conditions. 

The law prevents insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing medical conditions, whether they already have insurance or not. This provision is paired with ObamaCare’s mandate to buy insurance, intended to prevent people from waiting until they are sick to buy insurance, knowing they can’t be denied. 

— This story was updated at 10:41 a.m.