The Health Care Outliers
As National Journal's Ron Brownstein wrote 2 weeks ago, in the run-up to the health care vote, Dems weighing their votes had to consider how much of their district is made up of the uninsured, who stood to gain the most from the bill.
The lower the percentage of uninsured constituents, the reasoning went, the less likely a member would be to cast a vote for the bill. See, for example, Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), a vote against the final bill; just 7.2% of Altmire's suburban Pittsburgh district is uninsured.
Meanwhile, a disproportionately high 17.3% of Altmire's district is senior citizens, among whom the health care reform bill was most unpopular. The higher the percentage of seniors, the more likely members took heat for their votes in favor.
But members didn't always follow the political logic. Here are the 10 Dems in districts with the highest percentage of uninsured constituents who voted against the bill, the 10 Dems in districts with the lowest uninsured rates who voted in favor, and the 10 GOPers in districts with the highest number of uninsured constituents:
The No Voters Percent Member District Uninsured Dan Boren OK-02 24.87% Harry Teague NM-02 21.81 Chet Edwards TX-17 20.67 Mike McIntyre NC-07 20.00 Gene Taylor MS-04 19.70 Jim Marshall GA-08 19.01 Mike Ross AR-04 18.91 John Barrow GA-12 18.91 Marion Berry AR-01 18.49 Larry Kissell NC-08 18.21The Yes Voters Percent
Member District Uninsured
James McGovern MA-03 3.36%
Barney Frank MA-04 3.61
John Tierney MA-06 3.62
Niki Tsongas MA-05 3.70
Richard Neal MA-02 3.83
John Olver MA-01 3.95
Bill Delahunt MA-10 4.28
Ed Markey MA-07 4.57
Patrick Murphy PA-08 6.02
Joe Sestak PA-07 6.35
After the jump, the 10 GOPers with the highest percentage of uninsured constituents.
The GOPers Percent Member District Uninsured Pete Sessions TX-32 32.64% M. Diaz-Balart FL-25 28.36 I. Ros-Lehtinen FL-18 27.60 L. Diaz-Balart FL-21 27.03 Kay Granger TX-12 23.66 Mike Conaway TX-11 23.26 Jeb Hensarling TX-05 22.99 Sam Johnson TX-03 22.75 Louis Gohmert TX-01 22.11 Devin Nunes CA-21 21.74
This omits Artur Davis (D - AL) who voted agaisnt health care adn whose district is 18.6% uninsured