The Republicans in the House of Representatives have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) 50 times now -- and they have failed 50 times. This week they are trying to do something different. They have introduced bills that would make three minor changes to Obamacare -- "fixes" that are not opposed by the Democrats and would improve the program. Why the radical change? In the past, Republicans have said Obamacare was so bad that it couldn't be "fixed". Now they are proposing to "fix" it.
The reason is that their worst nightmare is coming true -- Obamacare is signing up millions of Americans, and while the program is far from perfect, it now looks like it is going to be a success. At least 8.6 million Americans have now qualified for health insurance through Obamacare (4.242 million buying private insurance and 4.378 million qualifying for Medicaid or CHIPS), and the numbers continue to grow.
Repealing Obamacare is simply no longer political viable (regardless of what their teabagger base thinks) -- and continuing their efforts to repeal it could put their control of the House in danger (since the Democrats only need to win 17 seats to flip the House). The best they can realistically do now, especially for those in competitive districts, is to tell the voters they voted to "fix" Obamacare.
The charts above (and below) are from information just released by the Department of Health and Human Services. You can go to their website for more statistics, including numbers from the individual states.
NOTE -- Here are the ten states with the highest number of people who have purchased private insurance through Obamacare:
1. California...............868,936
2. Florida...............442,087
3. Texas...............295,025
4. New York...............244,618
5. North Carolina...............200,546
6. Pennsylvania...............159,821
7. Michigan...............144,587
8. Georgia...............139,371
9. Illinois...............113,733
10. Washington...............107,262