The smart money says that the retirement of Congressman Jim McDermott, D-Wash., will not alter the makeup of the House of Representatives. McDermott’s district, which encompasses much of Seattle and surrounding communities, is as blue as a clear summer sky, essentially guaranteeing that the seat will remain in Democratic hands when the 14-term representative retires at the end of this year.
But McDermott’s impending departure, which was announced Monday, could have an impact on key issues he has championed through the years. Most prominent among these is health care, which long has been the Congressman’s primary platform. A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, McDermott worked as a psychiatrist before turning his attention to politics. As a state legislator, he crafted the Basic Health Plan, a first-in-the-nation program to provide health insurance to the unemployed and the working poor.
That plan ended when the federal Affordable Care Act was adopted in 2010 and Washington established a health care exchange, but for years it helped provide basic care for some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. When McDermott announced that he would not seek re-election, President Obama said, “Across America, you’ll find families that are better off because Jim McDermott was fighting for them.”
Therein lies the importance of McDermott’s retirement, because at the federal level, the battle over health care is far from finished. Republicans in Congress have adopted a well-rehearsed agenda for their 2016 session, with Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., saying in the party’s radio address Saturday: “We owe it to the American people to take our best shot at repealing Obamacare, and that’s what we’ll do next week.”
