FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, the Capitol in Washington at sunrise. Democrats hoping to use health care as an issue in the midterm elections will have to decide how they’ll do it. One strain that’s popular with liberals, pushing for government-financed health care, is causing a tactical divide. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Democrats wrestle with election-year message on health care

By Associated Press Washington, D.C.

PUBLISHED 1:55 PM ET May. 09, 2019

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats hoping to use health care as an issue in the fall's midterm elections will have to decide how they'll do it.

One strain that's popular with liberals — pushing for "Medicare for All," or government-financed health care — is causing a tactical divide.

All Democrats oppose President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to scuttle former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Many think it's smart to focus on that during the campaign.

Many also back expanding government-paid health care. That appeals to liberal voters.

But some think drawing attention to Democratic efforts to reinvent how Americans receive medical care is a mistake.

They say that opens the door for Republicans to accuse them of plotting tax increases, unaffordable federal costs and the loss of people's employer-provided coverage.