dems reframe healthcare debate

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MIDTERM_ELECTIONS_HEALTH_CARE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-22-04-30-00


FILE - In this file photo taken June 14, 2014, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, left, campaigns for re-election with his father, former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., center, in Warren, Ark. Mark Pryor is reaching into his own medical history to explain his vote on the nation’s new health care law, telling Arkansans that his battle with a rare cancer 18 years ago influenced his vote. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats is standing by his vote for President Barack Obama's health care law, a fresh sign that the unpopular mandate may be losing some of its political punch.

In an ad released this week, two-term Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor says he voted for a law that prevents insurers from canceling policies if someone gets sick, as he did 18 years ago when he was diagnosed with cancer. That prohibition on ending policies is one of the more popular elements of the 4-year-old law that Pryor never mentions by its official name - the Affordable Care Act.

"No one should be fighting an insurance company while you're fighting for your life," Pryor says. "That's why I helped pass a law that prevents insurance companies from canceling your policy if you get sick, or deny coverage for pre-existing conditions."

The law, dubbed "Obamacare," remains divisive, vilified by Republicans as big government run amok and a relentless hit on a sputtering economy. House Republicans have voted some 50 times to repeal, change or scrap the law, and the GOP is betting Americans' opposition to the law will be a great motivator in November's midterm elections.