http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=87D68B1C-AEE5-4811-8141-44A2021A5CDB Pelosi: Health law is a ‘winner’ for Democrats
By: Paige Winfield Cunningham
March 20, 2014 11:22 AM EDT
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the health care law is a “winner,” when asked whether it’s a winning or losing issue for Democrats in swing districts this year.
“You’ll have to ask the member, but I believe it’s a winner,” she told reporters as she marked this Sunday’s fourth anniversary of the law’s passage.
Pelosi maintained that the Florida House special election last week, in which Democrat Alex Sink was defeated by a Republican in a race where the health care law was a major issue, showed that Democrats are “ready for the next putt” because the final results were close.
Pelosi also emphasized that health law’s name, the Affordable Care Act, is important because it describes what the law will do: lower costs. She said opponents started using “Obamacare” because they “wanted to get away from the word ‘affordable,’” she added.
She said she’s made that point to President Barack Obama, who has himself used the term “Obamacare” at times.
“And by the way, it’s called the Affordable Care Act,” she told a reporter, repeating the law’s name several times. “I know you didn’t intend anything derogatory, but it’s called the Affordable Care Act. I tell [Obama] the same thing I told you. Affordable — there’s a reason.”