Mullaney, Arielle (EPS) From: The Washington Post <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 10:15 AM To: Brownell, Jeffrey (OGR) Subject: The Daily 202: Kathleen Sebelius stumping with Democrats highlights the rapidly changing politics of health care If you're having trouble reading this, click here. Share: Listen to The Big Idea Kathleen Sebelius stumping with Democrats highlights the rapidly changing politics of health care 1 Kathleen Sebelius, former Health and Human Services secretary, talks with Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Wisconsin, after a campaign event Monday afternoon in Milwaukee. She later rallied in Madison with Tony Evers, the Democrat challenging Gov. Scott Walker. (James Hohmann/The Washington Post) BY JAMES HOHMANN with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve THE BIG IDEA: MILWAUKEE—If you made a list five years ago of Democratic surrogates who candidates in purple states like Wisconsin would want to campaign with, 2 Kathleen Sebelius’s name would not appear. The botched rollout of Obamacare made her politically toxic, and she took the fall as the Obama administration’s scapegoat for the early problems with Healthcare.gov. But fortunes change in politics. A law that cost scores of Democratic lawmakers their seats over four election cycles is now widely seen as an asset. And the former secretary of health and human services was welcomed to the campaign trail on Monday with open arms by Tony Evers, the Democrat challenging Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) in one of the hardest fought contests of 2018. Sebelius reminded a group of Democratic volunteers at a field office of what Sarah Palin used to say about her. “I was going to run the death panels – choosing who got to live or die. That was me,” she quipped. “There were lots of accusations. … Yada, Yada, Yada. None of which turned out to be true.” The former governor of Kansas said she’s campaigning for multiple Democratic gubernatorial candidates this fall, including Laura Kelly in her home state and Richard Cordray in Ohio. She added that she’s also done “some remote advising” for Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and called Stacey Abrams in Georgia a good friend. “My eye is on governors,” said Sebelius. Her ability to go to states like these puts in stark relief how much Democrats have become emboldened to play offense on Obamacare. “It is nice to know that health care is now probably the top issue in the 2018 election, and people finally understand that it’s a right that people have access to health care in this country,” said Sebelius. “It does make me a little bit unhappy to watch people who have tried for eight years to do anything they could to kill the law now claim to be big supporters.” 3 After the botched rollout of healthcare.gov, President Barack Obama brought Kathleen Sebelius to the 2014 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner for a skit. He pretended a video he produced for the occasion wouldn't play, and Sebelius emerged from backstage to help make it work. “I got this,” she said. “I see it all the time.” (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Feeling vindicated, the 70-year-old was clearly pleased to be on the stump defending her own legacy and relished going on the attack against Walker for, as she put it, “playing politics with people’s lives.” “When President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, we knew there would be a problem between the time the law was signed and the time that the full benefits started to roll, which was January 2014,” said Sebelius. “So there were almost four years, and those four years were pretty deadly [politically] because all 4 kinds of assertions were made. What we have right now are … about 22 million Americans who have health coverage [and] who now say, ‘Wait a minute! You’re not going to take my insurance away. You’re talking about me, or my child, or my aunt or my brother. Everybody now has a very personal connection to the benefits that are finally in place.” Sebelius’s focus during her stops in Milwaukee and Madison was the pending lawsuit by states, including Wisconsin, that challenges the constitutionality of Obamacare. Democrats say that, if the litigation succeeds, the entire law – including the popular requirement that insurance companies must cover people with preexisting conditions – would get struck down. The airwaves are full of attack ads accusing Walker of wanting to take away coverage from people with preexisting conditions. 5 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) answers questions Monday from local reporters about the latest health-care focused attack ad that Democrats have launched against him after his stop in Milwaukee. (James Hohmann/The Washington Post) -- In an interview Monday afternoon after a campaign stop at a manufacturing plant on the outskirts of town, Walker blasted Sebelius and promised he will make sure people with preexisting conditions are still protected if the law got struck down. He noted that she was among the Obama administration officials who promised people would be able to keep their doctors if they liked them. “It’s only fitting that they would bring her in to lie about our record here,” said Walker. “My 6 wife is a Type 1 diabetic. My mother is a survivor of breast cancer. My brother has a heart condition. Like a lot of families in Wisconsin, it’s personal to me.” The governor said Obamacare is still “a huge mess,” and that you can keep some of the good parts but still get rid of most of the law. Walker mostly focuses his stump speech on highlighting the low unemployment rate, which he calls “the Wisconsin comeback.” He warns that Democrats would raise taxes if they regain power and restore the union power he rolled back in a way that would make the state less economically competitive. “They want you to be distracted by that [preexisting conditions] debate,” Walker said during his event in Milwaukee. “They want to talk about that because they want you to ignore the failure of Obamacare. Particularly if you’re a small business owner or a family farmer or anyone buying your health insurance on the individual market, Obamacare has failed you.” 7 Scott Walker campaigns with former HHS secretary and Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson at a manufacturer on the outskirts of Milwaukee. (James Hohmann/The Washington Post) -- Walker spent Monday crisscrossing Wisconsin with another former HHS secretary, Tommy Thompson, who is better remembered locally for his 14 years as governor. In a brief interview, Thompson said it was always inevitable that public attitudes about the law would “moderate” over time. “It always does,” said Thompson, 76. “There were some good things in Obamacare. There were some bad things. The problem was it was just a partisan bill. I’m not blaming either party. … If you look back in history, when you have big moments in society, it’s always best done in a bipartisan way: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, workers comp.” 8 Thompson predicted that political pressure might mount next year for a bipartisan bill to improve the existing law. “Hopefully now, after this election, both political parties can come together and come up with a better health care bill.” -- The airwaves here are full of commercials hammering Walker on this specific issue. The latest went up Monday from A Stronger Wisconsin, an outside group funded by the Democratic Governors Association: CONTENT FROM BANK OF AMERICA Advancing women’s economic empowerment Connecting women with the skills, mentors and professional networks they need to succeed will continue to drive progressive change, globally. That’s the goal of the Global Ambassadors Program, a partnership between Vital Voices and Bank of America. Learn more. 9 Her, Him, You -- Walker’s impulse has been to not let these hits go unanswered. He responded yesterday by recording a straight-to-camera video on his campaign bus and posting it to Twitter, in which he promises to “always” cover preexisting conditions. His running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, talks about her own battle with cancer in another response ad. A Republican state representative, Mary Felzkowski, says in a separate ad that she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer twice and accuses Democrats of playing politics with health care. 10 -- Some of the Democratic rhetoric has grown quite hyperbolic. “The governor wants to get rid of your health care. That’s what this all comes down to,” said Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, as he introduced Sebelius. “We know we’ve been right on this issue for a very long time. Gov. Walker hasn’t seen the light. He’s seen poll numbers.” -- A Marquette University Law School poll released last week underscored why Democrats have zeroed in on preexisting conditions. The survey found the governor’s race neck-and-neck, with Walker at 47 percent and Evers at 46 percent. Fifty percent said they would like to see the Affordable Care Act remain in place, while 44 percent would like it repealed. But 78 percent said the ACA’s requirement 11 that preexisting conditions should be covered by insurance companies is “very important” to them. Another 15 percent said it’s “somewhat” important. Only 5 percent said it’s not important. Even two-thirds of the people who still want to repeal Obamacare say forcing insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions is “very important” to them. But there’s also widespread agreement that the status quo is not good. Only 4 percent of respondents said the ACA should be kept as it is, while 55 percent favor making improvements to the law.