Obamacare Motor Voter

[Star]

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Obamacare ☞ Motor Voter

Juliet Eilperin and Scott Clement
September 26

Republicans have plenty of reasons to dislike Obamacare already, but they haven’t focused on one that could affect them in 2014 and beyond: anyone signing up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act will also have a chance to register to vote.

Before folks start accusing Democrats of engaging in a vast left-wing conspiracy, it’s worth noting this quirk stems from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (better known as the “Motor Voter” law, because it allowed all Americans to register to vote while renewing their driver’s license).

According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman Brian Cook, applications in the insurance marketplace must include the offer of voter registration because the law “requires states to offer voter registration [at] all offices that provide ‘public assistance’ (including Medicaid applications). Because people applying on healthcare.gov could be eligible for either Medicaid or Marketplace coverage, we will be providing info on voter registration to people who request it.”

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[Trajan]

interesting thx, I wasn't aware of that.

But I am not sure what difference this would make, in the larger context...*shrugs*

 

[Mr. H.]

How did you make that pointy-finger character in the thread title?

 

[Trajan]

How did you make that pointy-finger character in the thread title?

 

[Star]

interesting thx, I wasn't aware of that.

But I am not sure what difference this would make, in the larger context...*shrugs*

It might be a shoulder shrug but-----but consider WAPO reporter and survey analyst Juliet Eilperin and Scott Clement's take...


...Could this give Democrats a political advantage? Potentially, since they stand to benefit the most from a surge in voter registration among those who currently lack insurance. By more than a 2 to 1 ratio, uninsured Americans supported Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll last summer (62 to 27 percent). Obama led by a smaller eight-point margin among those who have health insurance. African Americans and Hispanics make up roughly half of the nation’s uninsured, a factor that explains much of the political divide.

IMO - the Republicans over the top voter suppression and willingness to even go so far as to close the government in order to keep their knees on the chest and hands on the throat of about 72 million American's healthcare has/will fire up a lot of people to register and-----and vote. Voters that might otherwise not be motivated to stand in line for hours and hours to cast their vote.
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[Seawytch]

The NVRA requires that registration forms be made available to all social services, human services, rehabilitative services, etc. applicants. Makes sense to register people in the exchanges. It'll work great in states with online voter registration.

Awesome way to encourage voter registration!