Less Coverage

A single man, Niles said his monthly premium will go from $367 to $507, even though he sees the coverage as less comprehensive and flexible. His higher income precludes him from getting any government subsidy for the new insurance.

At roughly 1 in 10 -- double the national average -- the district that Peters represents ranks in the top 10 nationally for the proportion of residents who purchase their coverage directly from insurance companies, the data show.

It’s an area heavy with military operations and self- employed entrepreneurs and small-business owners as well as the headquarters for Qualcomm Inc., the largest maker of chips for smartphones.

Peters is one of two Democrats facing re-election battles who have already been attacked over Obamacare in advertisements paid for by Americans for Prosperity, a national small- government group funded in part by billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch.

Attack Ads

The ads ran in October and November on broadcast and cable television, AFP said. It urged residents to call Peters’s office to tell him “Washington can do better” than Obamacare.

“What if later, bigger glitches prevent my family’s access to care, or I can’t get the surgery my doctor thinks I need because of some policy in Washington?” a woman’s voice asks in the spot. “They passed it without knowing everything in it. Now some promises -- keeping our doctors and plans, lower costs -- are broken.”

Peters was among 39 Democrats who broke from their party to rebuke the White House by supporting a Republican bill in November that sought to revise the health law. He was also among 17 Democrats who voted Sept. 28 on a measure that would have repealed a medical device tax established in the law.

“People understand that I came in after the law was passed,” Peters said. “I’ve clearly shown that I’m independent and I’m looking out for whatever I can do to make the law work.”