RGA weighs in with ad in Ga. governor’s race

ATLANTA (AP) - TITLE: “Bad Idea”

LENGTH: 30 seconds

AIRING: Statewide, beginning Thursday.

KEY IMAGES: The TV ad is sponsored by the Republican Governors Association in support of Gov. Nathan Deal and is the first to attack his Democratic challenger, Jason Carter, ahead of the Nov. 4 election. The ad opens with a photo of President Barack Obama speaking at a podium and then quickly transitions to what appears to be a hospital room, where a man clutches the hand of a woman in a hospital bed. The narrator says, “We know ObamaCare is making health care coverage more expensive, costing us jobs and forcing people to pay for things they don’t want or need. So why would Jason Carter say expanding ObamaCare ’should be on the table?’”

The ad ends with an image of a stretcher being wheeled down a hallway. “Jason Carter and ObamaCare - two bad ideas Georgia should take off the table,” the narrator says.

ANALYSIS: The ad focuses on an interview Carter, a Democratic state senator from Atlanta, conducted with Georgia Health News that was published in the Athens Banner-Herald in March. It also focuses on Carter’s vote against House Bill 943, which passed the General Assembly and prohibits state agencies from spending time or money on advocating for Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid expansion is one component of the Affordable Care Act - Obama’s signature health care legislation - which also established health exchanges in states where people can shop for private policies. Deal chose not to set up a state exchange, which is currently run by the federal government.

In the interview, Carter was asked whether he is in favor of Medicaid expansion. Deal has refused to expand Medicaid, arguing it would result in high costs the state cannot afford. His administration has projected expansion would cost Georgia roughly $48 million in the first full year, or less than 1 percent of the proposed state budget, with costs rising to nearly $498 million by 2023.

Carter told the interviewer: “What I believe is that we have to look at this problem critically. I think expansion should be on the table … and make sure those folks (eligible for coverage) can get either private insurance on the exchanges or get a Medicaid-like expansion - it all has to be on the table. I think we will do one of those things if I’m elected governor.”

Later, Carter was asked about the argument that expansion would be too expensive. Carter told the interviewer: “What’s interesting to me about this rhetoric about the federal government is that it’s pick-and-choose. We don’t like Obamacare because Obamacare is unpopular. That’s pure politics. We like deepening the Savannah harbor with federal dollars because, well, that is popular.”

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Online:

Link to ad: https://youtu.be/aXTWHQSj4Mw

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Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Christina.