Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pre-Labor Day Lull and Health Care Reform Sleepers

Come Labor Day, the political campaigns begin in earnest.

At issue will be:

• Foreign policy decisions (Should we bomb ISIS in Syria?).

• Ukraine v. Russia (What should we do, if anything?),

• Obama end-runs around Congress on immigration and climate change regulations( Can the president do what he wants to do?).

• The state of the economy (What’s real – 4.5% growth in 2nd quarter or 1.5% project for all of 2014).

• ObamaCare ( Are premium hikes and health plan cancellations and switches worth the 5% drop in number of uninsured?)
According to Real Clear Politics polls on Senate and Government races without tossups (9 seats are too close to call), the political races shape up like this ( pundits are hedging their bets whether midterms will be a sweeping wave election or a mere GOP ripple),

Senate: 52 Republicans, 48 Democrats
Governors: 29 Republicans, 21 Democrats

For the moment, ObamaCare is dormant, but there are these big time sleepers.

• How much will double digit health care premium increases influence Red States Senate elections?

• Will health plan cancellations and forced switches to other health plans anger voters?

• Would a GOP Senate with vote for repeal really mean anything in view of certain Obama veto?

Only one thing is certain, after Labor Day, America will awaken from its temporary political slumber over matters of foreign affairs disarray, domestic economy troubles, and ObamaCare controversies.

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