'We always try to cut red tape,' said Republican Rep. Steve King. Republicans give Obamacare advice

Republican lawmakers have spent the past three years blasting Obamacare, but now they have a new role: helping people sign up for it.

It’s a role reversal that puts party politics at odds with constituent service. Even Obamacare’s most strident opponents say that if people call their offices looking for help when enrollment starts in October, they’ll direct their staff to assist.


“We always provide people with the best information that’s available to us. We always try to cut red tape,” said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, perhaps the House’s most vocal Obamacare critic. If someone asks for assistance, “we’re not going to shut people out of information. We’re not going to make their life more difficult. Obamacare’s bad enough to have to live under.”

( Also on POLITICO: CBC to launch Obamacare tour)

Obamacare is at a turning point. For three years it’s been an abstraction. But enrollment starts in October, and come January, millions of Americans will be covered. And members of Congress expect the phones to start ringing with confused constituents.

Republicans are anticipating even more questions now that the White House has delayed enforcement of the employer mandate for one year, which may make a confused public even more confused.

“It’s going to be hard to answer questions with the kind of uncertainty that these delays create. That’s why it would be better if you had a permanent delay,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who added that his office will help constituents the best it can back home — while he joins a reinvigorated Republican drive in Washington to halt it.

( Also on POLITICO: Blue Cross, Walgreens explain ACA)

GOP lawmakers won’t go out and sell Obamacare. But they’ll answer questions.

To prepare, Republican congressional staffers have been participating in calls and meetings hosted by Obama administration officials to inform them about the basics of the law, such as how enrollment will work, who will be eligible and how to sign up. The events have been open to Democrats, as well.

Republican lawmakers have not had the regular sessions the Democrats have had with administration officials on how to roll out the law most effectively. Nor have they requested help with public education events from organizations like AARP, which did a lot of bipartisan outreach when Medicare drug coverage began, said David Certner, the legislative policy director of AARP.

Unsurprisingly, Republican lawmakers interviewed by POLITICO didn’t talk about hosting educational events or town halls to advertise the benefits as many Democrats plan to do. They won’t do anything that proactive. But they aren’t going to slam down the phone if a constituent wants to know how to get to the right website or phone number. They’ll help, just like they do when constituents ask about Social Security or Medicare.

( PHOTOS: Supreme Court upholds health care law)

It’s a far more muted approach than the one Democrats took in 2006, when the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit kicked in with a dizzying menu of choices that confused seniors. Many Democrats who opposed the Medicare law enacted under former President George W. Bush left their political sentiments in Washington and went back home to teach their constituents about the benefits, which include subsidies for low-income seniors.

Bush’s Medicare chief at the time, Mark McClellan, recalls line dancing with a liberal Democrat, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, at a Cleveland event to promote the benefit that she had voted against. “Most Democrats didn’t vote for the bill, [but] there were a lot of events with Democrats present,” McClellan said. “I don’t think the message was, ‘You should enroll, and this is the greatest thing ever.’ It was: ‘This is an important program you should know about.’”

But that law wasn’t as divisive as the 2010 health law, which the House has now voted 37 times to repeal or defund all or part of it.

“We advocate for our constituents all the time,” said Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician and a prominent critic of the law. “The maze that government creates, especially in the area of health care, is destructive to quality care, and we help as many people as we possibly can try to navigate through the ridiculous rules and regulations. And this law will be no different.”

Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America, a pro-Obamacare organization doing outreach work on the law, says that’s the least Republicans can do. No matter their views on the law itself, “they’ve got a responsibility to get the word out to constituents.”

Some Republican lawmakers are skeptical that they’ll get much demand for assistance. They’re expecting more complaints.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, for instance, wouldn’t go so far to say he will help constituents sign up. He said he anticipates a whole different class of Obamacare calls.

“I think the calls we’re going to be getting are, ‘I just got laid off from my job,’ or ‘I got moved from full- to part-time status because my employer says Obamacare required them to do it,’” Rubio said. “I think the calls we’re going to get are starting in October from seniors who are going to see their benefits reduced on Medicare Advantage. I think the calls we’re going to get are in January, when people have lost the health care coverage they were happy with, or when their premiums skyrocket. Those are the calls I think we’re going to get a lot of.”

King, too, said he expects a lot more complaints than requests for help.

“I expect January 2014 is when it really hits,” King said. He said when 28-year-olds see their premiums soar, “that’s the kind of constituents that I expect to hear from.”

“We always treat the law as is, and certainly, that’s the primary function of our state offices — to help our constituents navigate whatever federal bureaucracy that’s there whether we agree with it or not,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

Republicans would find themselves in hot water if they block their constituents from a government service. That will be particularly true because the law’s backers plan to roll out television ads touting the law and send volunteers to knock on doors to help people enroll.

House Democratic leaders are encouraging their members to be proactive. In May, they sent lawmakers a binder with lists of administration contacts, fact checks and suggested events to hold at home, such as partnering with a local Planned Parenthood or a senior center.

People in states with a mix of Democratic and Republican senators and House members may naturally gravitate toward the Democrat for an Obamacare question — for instance, reaching out to Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Johnson’s Democratic colleague, rather than him. And Republicans in very red states may be less likely to have constituents interested in the law’s programs.

In Nebraska, “overwhelmingly, people do not support this president, and they don’t support his policies. So I probably don’t have the difficulty that maybe some of my colleagues have,” said Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns. “Our attitude has always been that if somebody calls, and they need our help, we’re going to help them. But you know, this is not a conflict for me because it’s a little different where I’m from.”