- Fear Spurs Support for Health Law as Republicans Work to Repeal It New York Times by Robert Pear—President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans appear to have accomplished a feat that President Obama, with all the power at his disposal, could not in the past seven years: They have galvanized outspoken support for the Affordable Care Act. People who benefit from the law are flooding Congress with testimonials. Angry consumers are confronting Republican lawmakers. And Democrats who saw the law as a political liability in recent elections have suddenly found their voice, proudly defending the law now that it is in trouble.
- Cancer Survivor Who Once Opposed Federal Health Law Challenges Ryan on Its Repeal Washington Post by Amy Goldstein—The distance between health-policy ideology and life-or-death health care narrowed to a few feet at a nationally televised town hall meeting this week when a small-business man from Arizona stood up and faced House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. "Just like you, I was a Republican," Jeff Jeans began. Standing on the stage, the Wisconsin congressman broke into a grin as Jeans said he had volunteered in two Republican presidential campaigns and opposed the Affordable Care Act so much that he'd told his wife he would close their business before complying with the health-care law. But that, he said, was before he was diagnosed with a "very curable cancer" and told that, if left untreated, he had perhaps six weeks to live. Only because of an early Affordable Care Act program that offered coverage to people with preexisting medical problems, Jeans said, "I am standing here today alive."
- Obamacare at Its Most Popular on Eve of Repeal Politico by Madeline Conway—On the eve of its possible repeal, Obamacare is at its most popular, according to a poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal released Tuesday. Forty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they think Obamacare, the outgoing president's signature legislative achievement formally called the Affordable Care Act, is a "good idea." Forty-one percent think it is a bad idea. The poll, conducted between Jan. 12 and 15, started asking about Obamacare in April 2009, and this month marks both the highest percentage of respondents who signaled their approval for the law and the first time that more people surveyed said they like it than dislike it.
