Some Beneficiaries of Obamacare Still Voted for Republicans Who Are Against It

Democrats who accuse low-income Republicans of voting against their own interests may be on to something.

A New York Times report notes that Republicans who became insured and benefited the most under the Affordable Care Act—dubbed Obamacare—elected Republicans to their state and federal legislatures who do not support the measure.

“Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia—states that saw substantial drops in the proportion of their residents without insurance—all elected Republican Senate candidates who oppose the Affordable Care Act,” the New York Times said.

“Control of the West Virginia state House of Delegates flipped from Democrats to Republicans. And Arkansas elected Republican supermajorities to both houses of its legislature along with a Republican governor, a situation that could imperil the Medicaid expansion that helped more than 200,000 of its poorest residents get health insurance,” the report continued.

In September a Kentucky woman explained to the Times that her political allegiances overrode how she felt or how she benefited from any one particular bill.

“Born and raised Republican,” Robin Evans, an eBay warehouse packer who was grateful for new Medicaid coverage, told the Times. “I ain’t planning on changing now.”

Read more at the New York Times.