Despite success of Obamacare in Kentucky, newly insured residents still plan to vote Republican

Kentucky's success with federal health reform appears to be having little impact on voters in a state that traditionally favors Republicans, Abby Goodnough reports for The New York Times. In fact, many residents who now only have insurance because of President Obama's Affordable Care Act still openly dislike the current administration.

About 10 percent of Kentuckians have obtained health insurance "through the state’s online insurance marketplace—albeit mostly through Medicaid, not private plans—and none of the technology failures that plagued other enrollment websites," Goodnough writes. "The uninsured rate here has fallen to 11.9 percent from 20.4 percent, according to a recent Gallup poll that found only Arkansas had experienced a steeper decline."

"But there is little evidence that the expansion of health coverage will help Kentucky Democrats in this fall’s midterm elections," Goodnough writes. "Republicans hold all of the state’s congressional seats except for one, in a district centered in Louisville, and none are considered vulnerable this year. Republicans, who already control the State Senate, have a chance of taking the State House of Representatives, where Democrats hold an eight-seat majority. And several recent polls have put (Senate Minority Leader Mitch) McConnell ahead of his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, even though his approval ratings are tepid."

Obama is so unpopular in Kentucky that McConnell links the president to Grimes when attacking her in ads. Grimes has done little to offset McConnell's attacks. "Some party activists and political analysts say Grimes is missing an opportunity to excite the Democratic base—and perhaps siphon votes from McConnell in places like southern and Eastern Kentucky, where the drop in the uninsured rate has been especially steep—by not vigorously defending the law," Goodnough writes. Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes the Rural Blog, told Goodnough, “It may be her last, best chance."

Goodnough writes, "In many ways, the role that the law is playing in Kentucky politics reflects what is going on nationally as the midterm elections approach. The law remains deeply unpopular among Republicans and independents, and Republican candidates still use it to flog their Democratic opponents." Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat who supports ACA, told Goodnough, "The campaign by the Affordable Care Act’s critics against it has been very effective in demonizing the phrase Obamacare and anything to do with the president. So I think you find a reluctance on the part of people, even though the law is benefiting them, to publicly acknowledge it.” (Read more)