Health care fight could hurt GOP

The new Republican majority takes over the House of Representatives this week, and some members are vowing to rescind the 2010 health care bill. Playing to fears, uncertainties and misinformation about the law worked well for the 2010 election (although public discontent with the economy was a bigger factor), but Republicans might want to tread carefully now that the new law is on the books. They might leave an opening for Democrats.

Republicans have the votes to get a repeal through the House, but they don't have a majority in the Senate. Even if they manage to garner enough votes in the Senate, President Obama would certainly veto the bill, and there would not be a two-thirds majority in either chamber to override a veto. So hopes of repealing health care reform would be futile in the next couple of years. Pushing this issue could also leave Republicans vulnerable to ads saying, "Senator GOP wants to allow health insurance companies to refuse coverage to you based on pre-existing conditions" or "Rep. GOP thinks it's OK for insurance companies to refuse to cover basic preventative care for you and your children" or "Republicans and the big insurance companies don't want to cover your dependent children after they turn 18, even if they're still living in your home. Is that what you want?"

Regardless of what you might think of the health care reform bill, it has some attractive benefits, and those benefits could be key tools in the political gamesmanship leading up to the 2012 elections.