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Despite predictions by some prominent Democrats that the popularity of health care reform would soar after passage, one year after it was signed by President Obama, support for the law has actually dropped slightly. According to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 42 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the law while 46 percent view it unfavorably. This is a slightly drop from April of last year when 46 percent viewed the law favorably and only 40 percent viewed it unfavorably.
The fact that the law has lost a modest amount of support in the passed year shouldn’t be surprising given that the law was basically designed to provide almost no help to anyone until 2014. Since the passage of the law, the level of uninsured has remained effectively unchanged while the cost of insurance continues to go up. The law hasn’t done anything positive that would cause people to re-examine their opinions about it, and won’t for another three years.
Every indication is that this general trend in support will likely continue for the next several years. By the 2012 election, support for President Obama’s signature law will likely be roughly the same or slightly lower than it is now. The purely political decision to delay benefits solely to make the law appear cheaper should go down as one of the greatest political miscalculations in recent times.
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Bug or Feature ???? >>>> One Year Later, Health Care Reform Actually Slightly Less Popular
This is a slight
lydrop from April of last yearThe purely political decision to delay benefits solely to make the law appear cheaper should go down as one of the greatest political miscalculations in recent times. <<< very very true
Seems to be the one thing the Obama Admin is excellent at doing – political miscalculations.
You have to admit Obama is quick on his feet though.
Whenever something big is going on he either changes the subject or leaves the country. Today he is in Brazil.
“The law hasn’t done anything positive….”
Horseshit. My 24 yo old son is on my insurance with the bill, without it he’d be uninsured and missing care. That may not be “anything positive” to you but it means a lot to my family. The several major provisions that are already in effect (parental coverage till age 26, ending of lifetime caps, ending of preexisting conditions for kids, etc) have brought some relief to *millions* of Americans already. That’s something positive it’s already done and that is a fact.
You can legitimately question the political judgement behind it. And you can legitimately wish it had gone further or that it was done very differently. But you do NOT have the right to lie about it and claim it hasn’t done a lot of good. Leave that to the rightwingnuts – they’re better at lying anyway.
And in the meanwhile, monthly rates for insurance have gone up 30% to 60% like clockwork.
After “reform” — sure it doesn’t help any when everyone opens their bill, to find themselves still screwed.
The ugly thing is that when the Republicans lie about it, they’re just making shit up and not even talking about why I object to it. Before this abomination goes into full effect, the only part remaining will be the individual mandate forcing us to buy shitty insurance from greedy, corrupt companies that have destroyed the health care system to begin with. All of the half way decent aspects of it will be gone.
After all the gifts and giveaways to the industries that have made so much profit by screweing over the American people, there will be all the new abuses.
We have so much to look forward to…
Meanwhile, I’d like to quibble with Jon’s characterization of the sellouts’ pos in this post as “reform” of health care.
AnyOne following Jane on twitter? Ellsberg arrested at Manning protest.
Agreed. let’s call it what it is: The Health Insurance Company and Pharmaceutical Welfare and Giveaway Act.
On edit. This was a reply to Knoxville@7. Dunno what happened to the reply part.
Slightly less popular is a whole lot better (from O’s POV) than a lot more unpopular, which is what it would have been if the mandatory requirements had gone into effect before the 2012 election.
In response to yellowsnapdragon @ 8
Wtf? What for? Protesting too peacefully?
“The purely political decision to delay benefits solely to make the law appear cheaper should go down as one of the greatest political miscalculations in recent times.”
Lets hope they go down with the shit sandwich they tried to pass as vegetable potpourri or sirloin if meat is your thing.
On the other hand,this shows that so called progressives in the Democratic party are non-existent.Ask yourself,why we can’t field a progressive candidate to challenge the corporatist in the WH…The “movement” is so strayed & demoralized by repeated betrayal from the Democratic party that even Nader thinks all is almost lost.
In response to Margaret @ 9
The word reform at least needs to be in quotations marks: health care “reform.”
Yes. Led him away in cuffs. Police told crowd to go but some stayed.
I don’t know. I think “health care” needs to be in quotes. Because this pos doesn’t even address health care. It’s just a huge huge corporate welfare program when the companies take your money and then deny you access to actual care.
The purely political decision to delay benefits solely to make the law appear cheaper should go down as one of the greatest political miscalculations in recent times.
Whether the guy wins or loses, he alway seems to do so in a way that maximizes the damage inflicted on the people he’s ostensibly trying to help.
But think of those fat post presidential lobbying gigs. He apparently is.
They delayed it so people would not realize how bad it is until after the election.
Bingo.
Book Salon up with David Sirota’s Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now–Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything hosted by Teddy Partridge
I’m glad some people are benefiting. However, in politics, perception rules. Obama’s crew has not sold the health care bill and have had little retort as Republican attorney generals bash it. So unless more people like the commenter who sees benefits speak up, it will continue to be viewed as an albatross around the president’s neck as he runs for re-election.
“The purely political decision to delay benefits solely to make the law appear cheaper should go down as one of the greatest political miscalculations in recent times.”
When this crock of shit actually takes hold in 2014 it’s popularity will plunge. Obama should have put it back to 2016 when he is safely the fuck out of Dodge.
Exactly!
I thought the reason implementation of the individual private insurance mandate was delayed until 2014 is because everybody hates it, except for the health insurance industry of course.
Pay no attention to this — I’ve been having gremlins again and just wanted to see if I could post a comment.
I’m glad you called him on this lie.
When the “reform” goes into effect, *I*, too, and some of my friends WILL greatly benefit from it.
Right now, I’m not benefiting much, but I’m glad your son now has better coverage than I can afford (I have total JUNK insurance at the moment).
I’ve noticed that pattern, too. Since I do believe Obama is no dummy, I also believe it’s no accident. He doesn’t have the political experience he should have for the position, but he has to have a certain level of political savvy. So the frequent “slips” in the MOTU’s favor can’t be accidental.
It is you who is lying by omission by selectively quoting part of a sentence rather than the paragraph. You don’t have the right to invent your own statistics and make unsupported claims, but Jon did link to Gallup showing that the amount of insured has remained unchanged.