3 reasons voters have soured on 'ObamaCare'
A new poll reveals that nearly three-fourths of Americans believe Obama's health-care reform law is unconstitutional — including 56 percent of Democrats
A new USA Today/Gallup poll offers some sobering numbers about President Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. The Affordable Care Act is broadly unpopular among registered voters, the poll finds, with half calling its passage a "bad thing" and 42 percent a "good thing." In 12 crucial swing states, the numbers are worse: 53 percent "bad" versus 38 percent "good." Also, 72 percent of all polled adults believe the ACA's individual mandate is unconstitutional, including 56 percent of Democrats. Furthermore, half of registered voters want the law repealed if a Republican beats Obama in the fall, versus 44 percent who don't. Why are Americans so down on health-care reform? Here, three theories:
1. Americans hate the individual mandate
"The more Americans know about ObamaCare, the less they like it," says Investor's Business Daily in an editorial. Blame the individual mandate, which requires Americans to have health insurance. Voters are finally realizing that "ObamaCare will, for the first time ever, force Americans to buy a government-approved product merely because they have a pulse." Plenty of us "dirty hippies" warned Democrats that people wouldn't like being forced to "buy health insurance from private, for-profit, and hated insurance corporations," says Martin Longman at Booman Tribune. If there were a public health insurance option, ACA would be much more popular.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. The law isn't helping many people... yet
A relatively small number of the ACA's provisions have already gone into effect. (For instance, young adults can now stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.) But the biggest parts don't kick in until 2014. That means Americans "are not seeing much in the way of positives," Gail Wilensky, a policy adviser for President George W. Bush and critic of the law, tells USA Today. Just 11 percent of registered swing state voters said the law has helped their families, versus 15 percent who said it's hurt. A whopping 72 percent said the law has had no effect.
3. Obama has failed to sell the law
While critics have been swamping the airwaves with a "torrent" of opposition and misinformation, ACA supporters are "relying on the president to do the selling, and he's moved on to other things," Brandeis University professor Stuart Altman tells USA Today. The result is a "drumbeat of negative comments and almost no positive" force counteracting it. Yes, "the president and the Democrats need to go on offense," says Booman's Longman. "I suggest a massive ad campaign that uses real beneficiaries of the health care bill."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published