DEMS/MEDICARE/OBAMACARE/PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Democrats disagree sharply over where to take the nation’s health care system, but the infighting has eased — and for that they can thank President Donald Trump. The Trump administration’s renewed assault on Obamacare has quelled for the moment the simmering tensions over ‘Medicare for All’ between Democrats’ vocal progressive wing and more moderate members and leaders. Even the most ardent single-payer advocate knows it’s not happening overnight — and that in the meantime, they need to rally around Obamacare, both because they want to prevent millions of people from losing their insurance and because the Affordable Care Act and its protection for people with pre-existing conditions has become one of Democrats’ most potent political messages…Yet Democratic differences over how far and how fast to expand health coverage persist below the surface, and Republicans are eager to exploit them. The Republican-led Senate is considering a vote on Medicare for All purely to divide and embarrass Democrats — as they recently tried to do on the Green New Deal. And from the White House on down, the GOP is looking for every opportunity to paint Democrats as reckless socialists in the lead-up to the 2020 election.”
–Alice Miranda Ollstein and Adam Cancryn, “Trump’s health care blundering soothes Democratic infighting,” Politico, April 12, 2019 1:08 pm