Why Affordable Care Act could become key issue in Arizona's Senate race

A potential shakeup in Arizona's Affordable Care Act marketplaces is resurrecting President Barack Obama's 2010 health-care law as a political issue in this year's U.S. Senate race.

The developments mean customers will have fewer subsidized plans to pick from next year, and in some rural counties, they could have no options at all. UnitedHealthcare, the national insurance giant, on Tuesday signaled that it intends to abandon Arizona's Affordable Care Act marketplace in 2017. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, the only other insurer to offer plans in all of Arizona’s 15 counties, also is considering pulling out of some areas.

Arizona voters could face a stark choice on the issue in November.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., voted against the 2010 legislation, and he has introduced a new health-care bill that would replace the law. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., the likely Democratic Senate nominee, supported President Obama’s health-care law, making her the first U.S. House lawmaker who voted for the ACA — dubbed “Obamacare” by critics — to seek statewide office in Arizona. She says she wants to fix any problems with it.

One McCain ally predicted the ACA will weigh heavily on the minds of many general-election voters, particularly in rural areas where choices are diminishing.

“This is part of a trend, and it was highly predictable that this thing would fall of its own weight,” said U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who also voted against the Affordable Care Act while a colleague of Kirkpatrick’s in the House. “It’s going to lead to fewer choices that are less and less affordable. It never was ‘affordable,’ it was always misnamed, but now it’s becoming plain for everybody to see.”

Asked Friday about the impact of UnitedHealthcare’s decision and related developments on the ACA marketplaces in Arizona, Kirkpatrick initially declined to comment, and instead instructed The Arizona Republic to schedule an appointment with her House office to discuss the topic with her at a later date.

She had just participated with McCain in a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing in Phoenix on the Environmental Protection Agency's response to the toxic 2015 Gold King Mine spill.

Later Friday, responding to a follow-up request from The Republic, Kirkpatrick's office provided a written statement.

"It's unfortunate they (UnitedHealthcare) pulled out of the marketplace. We need to make sure as many Arizonans as possible have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and instead of politicizing this, public officials should work together to make the system better," Kirkpatrick said in her statement. "I've always said the Affordable Care Act isn't perfect, but important provisions like the Medicaid expansion have played a pivotal role in providing thousands of Arizonans with the resources to stay healthy, go to work, and strengthen our communities."

Kirkpatrick added in her statement that she would be in contact with the Obama administration and the Health and Human Services secretary "about the critical need for choices in the marketplace throughout Arizona."

"I urge my colleagues in the public and private sectors to put politics aside and work together on these issues," she said.

In other developments:

• Kelli Ward, a former state senator from Lake Havasu City who is challenging McCain in the Aug. 30 Republican primary, has reported another quarter of underwhelming fundraising.

According to a campaign-finance report posted Friday on the Federal Election Commission's website, Ward raised nearly $179,000 in January, February and March. But her campaign spent $227,296 in the same period. At the end of the quarter, she had $210,000 left to spend, down from $259,402 at the end of December.

By contrast, McCain's campaign reported raising nearly $1 million in contributions and nearly $1.3 million in total receipts for the quarter. He had $5.5 million on hand on March 31.

"Ward doesn't seem to be catching fire," said Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes U.S. Senate races for the influential, nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C. "She is going to have a hard time running a credible race against McCain."

• Meanwhile, the pro-McCain Super PAC Arizona Grassroots Action has gone on the attack against Ward with a new TV ad running on the Fox News Channel.

The 30-second commercial characterizes Ward as "dangerous and weak" on national security.

Ward responded in a Friday morning Facebook post: "I've been up for an hour and I've already seen the McCain SuperPAC attack ad against me twice -- thanks for the increase in name identification, 'Grassroots' Action PAC!"

She added that, "Mr. McCain and his minions want to distract from his voting record as well as from the important issues facing Arizonans and Americans."

• McCain made news Tuesday by announcing that he will not attend this summer's Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Flake, the state's junior senator, also may skip the proceedings, particularly if celebrity billionaire Donald Trump clinches the GOP presidential nomination.

"If it's a Trump coronation, I'm not inclined," Flake told The Republic on Friday. "But I haven't made a final decision."

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.