美国国家公共电台 NPR House Republican Faces Voter Backlash Over Health Care And Tax Votes

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NOEL KING, HOST:

Congressman¹ Tom MacArthur, a Republican from New Jersey², ran in 2016 on a pledge to repeal³ the Affordable⁴ Care Act. That helped him win re-election in a district that President Trump⁵ also won. But following through on his promise could cost MacArthur his seat. NPR's Kelsey Snell has the story.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁶: Congressman Tom MacArthur's story might seem like a lot of other suburban⁷ Republicans running in 2018. He's in a bare-knuckle fight for re-election against a Democrat⁸ who decided⁹ to run for office after Republicans tried to roll back the Affordable Care Act. But MacArthur is more than just a Republican who ran on repealing¹⁰ Obamacare. He is the only congressman in New Jersey still running after actually voting to do it, and this election is a referendum on that vote. That much is clear within minutes of turning on a television or a radio here.

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ANDY KIM: Congressman Tom MacArthur tried to take away health care for millions of Americans.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: AARP calls Tom MacArthur's plan an age tax.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Jeopardizing¹¹ health coverage¹² for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

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GEOFF GINTER: We can't afford to get private insurance.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Tom MacArthur - still working for the insurance industry.

SNELL: Health care is a top issue across the country this year, but it's even more potent¹³ for MacArthur. That's because last spring, MacArthur saved repeal from the brink¹⁴ of failure. He created a way for states to request waivers to get out of major portions of the law, like a requirement preventing insurers from increasing prices on older, sicker people and minimum coverage standards for health plans. It helped secure enough votes to pass the final House GOP repeal bill. That effort fell short in the Senate, but MacArthur's role drove New Jersey voters to flood town halls like this one in Willingboro in 2017.

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TOM MACARTHUR: Folks, please.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: We gave him a chance to talk. He talked in Congress.

SNELL: That's just the start of a nearly five-hour confrontation¹⁵ that went viral. MacArthur's challenger, Democrat Andy Kim, says that town hall intensity¹⁶ hasn't faded. He's a former Department of Defense¹⁷ employee who says he jumped into politics after a health crisis struck his own family.

KIM: When I talk to people across this district, it's the same thing. They're not forgetting about health care and that debate a year ago because health care is a problem that people in this district face every single day.

SNELL: Like a lot of Republicans who ran two years ago on repealing Obamacare, MacArthur now says he supports some parts of the law, particularly the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Many voters here say that's confusing. The congressman declined to participate in this story, but MacArthur often says his amendment¹⁸ was aimed at repealing other parts of the Affordable Care Act, not doing away with those protections. Here's how he described it on a recent forum¹⁹ on News 12 New Jersey.

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MACARTHUR: My commitment has always been to protect people with preexisting conditions, maybe do it differently than the Affordable Care Act, which has driven costs up.

SNELL: The wall-to-wall health care focus is increasingly aimed at an extremely narrow set of voters. A recent Stockton University poll found MacArthur leading Kim 47 to 45 percent among likely voters. Just 4 percent said they're undecided. That includes Bruce Preston, who was having breakfast at the Golden Dawn Diner in Willingboro. Preston says he usually votes Republican, but he doesn't like that New Jersey got hit hard by the tax law that MacArthur also supported. And he says he's not comfortable with rolling back the Affordable Care Act either.

BRUCE PRESTON: I certainly will vote Republican for the Senate.

SNELL: Have you decided about the House?

PRESTON: I don't know. I'm a little bit on the - I don't know. That one - I'm not sure. I've been thinking of voting for Kim.

SNELL: MacArthur and Kim have just 14 days to convince him. Kelsey Snell, NPR News, Willingboro, N.J.