Gov. Tom Corbett (R-Penn) Removes Himself From Obamacare Death Panel (Updated)

Last April, I noted that there is in fact an Obamacare Death Panel, and it is populated by the Republican governors who have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. According to a report published by researchers from Harvard Medical School, the number of deaths attributable to this lack of Medicaid expansion in opt-out states will be between 7,115 and 17,104 per year. 

Well, it looks like this Death Panel is about to lose one member (from Greg Sargent):

In another sign that the politics of Obamacare continue to shift, the Medicaid expansion is now all but certain to come to another big state whose Republican governor had previously resisted it: Pennsylvania.

The federal government has approved Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s application for the state’s own version of the Medicaid expansion, without a handful of the conditions Corbett had hoped to impose, Dem sources tell me.

Corbett just announced that he will accept the expansion that has been offered, perhaps with some last-minute changes — expanding coverage and subsidies to as many as half a million people.

Corbett really did not have much of a choice, given that he is currently getting his ass kicked in his quest for reelection:

The latest F&M poll shows [Tom] Wolf, a wealthy York businessman and former state revenue secretary, holding a lead of 25 percentage points over Corbett, the former prosecutor-turned-governor from the Pittsburgh suburbs. Wolf leads Corbett 49 percentage points to 24 percentage points, the poll shows, compared to 47 to 25 in June. The poll also found one-in-four voters undecided, with slightly more of them leaning toward Wolf.

What I find most interesting is how quickly this whole Obamacare fight has been turned on its head. A year ago, Republicans no doubt thought that the ACA would be the dominant issue during the run-up to the 2014 Mid-Terms, and cowardly Democrats couldn't run away from Obamacare fast enough.  Now, Republicans have stopped talking about it and at least one Democrat has started mentioning components of the ACA in a political ad.

But simply mentioning Obamacare in political ads is not enough.  The Democrats must go on the attack by repeatedly pointing out that the Republicans wasted the last four years attacking a law that is actually working well and actually helping millions of people.  The Democrats need to constantly point out that all of the parade of horribles envisioned by the GOP with regard to Obamacare have not materialized.  Christ, premiums under the ACA are even going down in some states next year.

The time has come for the Democratic Party to claim ownership of the Affordable Care Act and to ram the certificate of title right up the GOP's backside.

UPDATE:  Yet another member of the Obamacare Death Panel has had enough:

In a growing trend, Tennessee looks like it will be the next Republican-led state to move toward expanding Medicaid under Obamacare. The Tennessean reported that Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said Thursday that Tennessee would aim to submit a Medicaid expansion plan to the Department of Health and Human Services "some time this fall." The program would cover more than 150,000 low-income residents in the state.

Here is a new talking point for the Democrats: If Republicans have been this wrong about Obamacare, what else are they completely wrong about? [Answer: Everything].