Attack Ads Signal Start Of Election Year

By Dennis Lambert
Published: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 11:31am

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act are starting an ad campaign that targets Arizona Democratic Representatives Ron Barber and Ann Kirkpatrick for their support of the new healthcare law, in one of the first signals that 2014 is an election year.

Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, says the law is deeply unpopular with voters and the group’s president Tim Phillips says it should be repealed, and replaced with a series of simpler reforms.

“One is allowing folks to purchase insurance across state lines another one is allowing risk-pooling,” Phillips said. “So, there’s multiple, more simple reforms we support but the most important thing is do no harm and Obamacare is clearly doing enormous harm.”

Phillips maintains the law hurts millions of Americans for the benefit of what he says are a relative few.

Democrats say more Americans have better, more affordable health care than before, thanks to ACA. Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin says if the GOP wants to make it a campaign issue, "they can go right ahead."