Americans Are Warming Up to Obamacare

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

by John Tozzi
8:53 AM EDT March 19, 2015

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The fight over Obamacare in Washington is as fierce as ever, with a Republican budget plan that would repeal the health-care law Democrats passed five years ago. In the rest of the country, opposition to the law appears to be easing.

The gap between favorable and unfavorable views of the Affordable Care Act is the narrowest in more than two years, according to a poll released today, March 19, by the Kaiser Family Foundation.



The poll of 1,503 U.S. adults found 43 percent opposed to Obamacare and 41 percent in favor. With a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, the result was essentially an even split. Those in favor most often cited expanded access to insurance, while opponents cited cost.

Negative views of the law increased in the months after October 2013, when the sign-up website healthcare.gov and some state insurance marketplaces were crippled by technology failures. Now the government reports that some 16.4 million Americans have gained insurance coverage under the law.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-19/obamacare-americans-are-warming-up-to-the-health-law

[Aristus]

1. Yeah, funny how not having to declare medical bankruptcy can predispose one toward affordable health

insurance...

[wordpix]

21. +10,000 and my NoBama insurance co. kicked me off their rolls

due to my pre-existing condition.

[tabasco]

2. Professional journalists should call it the Affordable Care Act

"Obamacare" is something the pukes made up.

[SmittynMo]

7. Yep it was meant to

piss Obama and the Dems off. It has backfired bigtime. And I'm pretty sure Obama now likes it. Why not? His name is all over it.

However, when I refer Obamacare as the ACA to people, no one knows what it is. Especially Republicants.

Once he's out of office, I'm sure people will catch on the the term ACA.

[mobeau69]

9. Obamacare

Just like President Obama, I own the term. The pukes thought "Obamacare" was a useful dysphemism. Obama turned their little word game right back in their face. Now and forever it's "Obamacare" for me.

[Unvanguard]

18. It's true that it's been reappropriated but I still hate it.

Reinforces the worst aspects of our horse-race celebrity-focused political culture. The Affordable Care Act isn't about Obama.

[area51]

10. Newtbamacare.

Basically a republican-created law.

[IronLionZion]

12. Why are republicans hell bent on killing it?

it's the only thing most of them talk about.

[Darb]

16. ...............crickets..............

Drive-by whine. Must not have gotten their pony.

I find that most of the time someone makes a claim like "newtcare" or whateverthefuck it was, they are either suspect or ponyboys.

[Doctor_J]

23. You honestly think that's serious?

It's part of the show. Big Insurance would cut them off at the knees if it were actually repealed.

[wordpix]

34. Big Insurance and Big Pharma, too

Pharma is the #1 expense on my bills. I found the true cost of my chemo on a NIH web page and it was $3600/round for drugs + administration. The "allowed charge" is $23K/round, about $21K for the drugs alone.

What I don't get is why Big Insurance agrees to this "allowed" charge when these insurance cos. can go to a web page like I did and find out the true cost is way less. Don't tell me there's no graft and corruption going on here.

[IronLionZion]

37. They have a major case in front of the supreme court

where you and the tea party are both sharing the same position against subsidies.



It's a hell of a show, over 6 years so far and still going strong.

[Doctor_J]

46. Oh, man

your back yard must be full of unicorns too.

where you and the tea party are both sharing the same position against subsidies.

Err...I am against taking 1 out of every 5 dollars that should go toward health care and give it to useless, bloodsucking profiteers who would let their "clients" die rather than give back some of the billions they're stealing every year. I am against getting 6 bills after a routine procedure, and spending hours on the phone trying to get the insurance company to pay. I am against paying 2000% mark-up on drugs that have been on the market for decades. I am against paying extra money so my insurance company can buy TV ads to recruit more victims.

Stop lying about SP advocates.

It's a hell of a show, over 6 years so far and still going strong.

Yep, and just as successful as it was 6 years ago.

[IronLionZion]

47. Good luck buddy

Whatever it is you are looking for, I hope you get it. I truly do.

[IronLionZion]

14. And patient protection

the biggest benefits are often the regulations for minimum coverage, 80/20 rule, no copay for screenings, no lifetime caps, no annual caps, quality outcome incentives, better portability of records, wellness incentives, etc.

[wordpix]

35. patient protection is big and thank goddess we have it now

Thank you, Pres. Obama and Dems

[Nye Bevan]

20. I love how he embraced the perjorative and made it a positive.

Kind of like how "Iron Lady" was originally intended by the Soviets as an insult for Margaret Thatcher.

[wordpix]

22. I kinda like "O-care" & the program saved me

Thank you, Pres. Obama!

[MADem]

39. Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron...."professional" journalists?

They're info-tainers, if you ask me.

I was shocked at the number of so-called "journalists" polishing their acting chops on Season 3 of House of Cards! Everyone on the networks and cable news shows got a check, pretty much!

[tabasco]

40. There's still some left at weekly newspapers,

I think.

[SmittynMo]

3. WTF is wrong with people?

43% vs 41%? Why anyone would not want healthcare for it's citizens is wrong. Dead wrong.

[valerief]

4. Brainwashing works, and Americans have been brainwashed for decades. nt

[riqster]

5. This.

[appalachiablue]

6. +10. Sad but true, and we live with the results of the effective corp. media propaganda.

[Doctor_J]

24. Brainwashing combined with the cult of personality

The worst, most expensive system in the world is now permanent. Thanks Obama!

[wordpix]

30. It's not perfect but this cancer patient would have NO insurance

if it weren't for O-care. And if I had to pay out-of-pocket for all my treatments, I would have no retirement account left and probably no home. Is that what you and repukes want? To leave seniors with wiped out bank accts. they've been working all their lives for, and possibly have to sell their homes to boot? Yeah, good alternative, doc.

If you don't like it, work to make it better. For one thing, let's stop giving drug cos. whatever they a$k for their drugs. My allowed provider charge for each round of (decades old, decades used) chemo was $23K, and most of it was for the drugs. Outrageous for a simple IV drip! THIS is what will bring O-care down, along with Medicaid and Medicare, more than anything else.

[tabasco]

8. Don't tell the stupid utopians here on DU ...

they plan to stay home next election because the parties are the same or some such deluded horseshit.

They'll be happy to see 20 million Americans lose health care as long as they can "make their statement."

[Doctor_J]

25. And you're happy that we have the worst care with the highest prices inthe world

talk about deluded horseshit

[tabasco]

29. I'm happy that it got a hell of a lot better in the last three years

Of course, it's not utopia yet, so there will be screechers.

[Doctor_J]

32. you mean utopia like every other developed country has?

And you're right. It's gotten a helluva lot better for the insurance companies and hospitals. BTW this "improvement" has made single payer healthcare an impossibility. You can thank the heritage foundation if you want. I'll pass.

[tabasco]

36. Yes, let's introduce a bill into Congress for single payer right now.

We'll just tell Congress to look at all those utopias in other countries and it's sure to convince them.

GREAT IDEA!

A vast majority of informed liberals believe the ACA is a step in the right direction toward single payer. Of course, it seems republicans and insurance companies really hate it. Bullshit predictions about the ACA driving up the cost of care have been proven FALSE.

Go ahead and stay home on election day or vote for some asswipe with a big mouth and big ego like Nader. Won't accomplish shit.

But, before you go, please name one country you consider to be utopia. If it's true, I might like to move there.

[Doctor_J]

42. Pssh. ACA has made SP an impossibility

Big Insurance is now part of the government. They've been guaranteed hundreds of billions of dollars per year. We will never, ever get them out. And if Heritage Care is so wonderful, why aren't all of the other countries getting rid of their health CARE and replacing it with mandatory for-profit insurance?

Heritage Care is a step AWAY from single payer - a giant step away. In fact it's made SP pretty much impossible. If SP was really the goal, then we would be better off where we were. If OTOH your goal was to force middle income people with employer coverage to foot the bill for guaranteed 20% profits to the insurance companies, then ACA is indeed wonderful.

Ah, blaming Nader for our worst-in-the-world healthcare. That's pretty far out there, even for a BOGer. And if the other countries are not utopia, then why did you make another post saying that single payer IS utopia? Why must the fan club argue every side of every issue? Can't you just adopt some actual principles and stick with them?

[wordpix]

31. high prices need to be controlled for sure - like my $23K IV drip

per chemo round for old chemo that's been used for decades (not new, not life-saving, not cutting edge).

OTOH, I personally have had outstanding care as a cancer patient. Could not be happier about that, and O-care is working for me.

[Doctor_J]

43. And what do you think Gingrinchcare is going to do about those prices?

It's pretty discouraging that you literally believe that you getting care offsets the fact that everyone in the country is being gouged. I personally believe that we can have care for everyone without paying billions in extortion to health insurance middlemen who contribute nothing.

[C Moon]

11. I was at the gym today, and unfortunately Fox "business" news was on in front of me.

They played a "commercial" (yeah, right...a commercial) telling viewers to show support for a bill in congress to end Obamacare. I saw the same ad a few months ago. No surprise there: that's about all the GOP has been focused on for the past several years.

It was funny watching the Fox "business news," because all the graphs showed the market in the green—not that I'm a big Wallstreet supporter. I picture Fox hoping and praying the market would tumble.

On my way out, I overheard two older gentlemen complaining about President Obama. The last thing I heard as I walked down the stairs was, "Yeah, well wait until we get that Clinton guy's wife in there."

[IronLionZion]

13. Many conservative voters think real unemployment and inflation are both 30%

at least. And everyone is just depending on socialist handouts instead of working. Very few can handle the fact that most beneficiaries of socialist programs are over age 65 and the US is actually in deflation now because of lower oil prices.

Just wait until someone tells you obamacare is killing jobs at oil companies and closing overseas factories.

[mainer]

15. Are there similar polling figures for the years after Medicare was introduced?

Just curious if there are similarities in how long it took for the public to approve.

[IHateTheGOP]

17. Americans are slow learners

Anyone with half a brain could readily see that the ACA has vastly improved the health care situation in this country. For it to take this long to realize this is mostly the media's fault. That being said, I get the same media and I knew it was good long ago. Americans aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

[YOHABLO]

19. To say Americans are slow learners is an understatement !

[notadmblnd]

27. Because they are not only slow, they are lazy learners too.

If only they would realize how much more energy it takes them to maintain their ignorance then it does to educate themselves.

[Doctor_J]

26. It's vastly improved Insurance stocks, which was the entire point

So I guess we agree.

[wordpix]

33. personally, I LIKE having health insurance, which I would not have without ACA

and THAT is the point for someone with a pre-existing condition

[Doctor_J]

41. You would also have health CARE if we had medicare for all like all of the other countries

and I would not be paying 15 times as much as I used to.

[wordpix]

48. I agree with you on Big Insurance but pls. answer this

Why does Big Insurance agree to an allowed charge like $23K for one round of decades-old, non-life-saving chemo? It's an IV drip. Is Big Insurance getting a kickback from providers and drug companies when those two charge outrageous prices?

[phleshdef]

49. Well until America gives us a government in both branches that will give us that, we do what we can.

Even Bernie Sanders said there wasn't any support for Single Payer at anytime during our large majorities. But that doesn't change the fact that President Obama has transferred an enormous amount of wealthy into the bottom rungs of the economy via the ACA... and thats a good thing. He also established, between the mandate and the patients bill of rights, the notion that there should be a certain standard of coverage for everyone and that everyone should be included in the financing of delivering those standards. Its not nearly as streamlined as single payer, not nearly as cost efficient. But conceptually, its not that far off. Its a beginning.

[Doctor_J]

50. They did. We didn't

The ACA is the exact opposite of single payer, not a step toward it, and not "conceptually close", whatever that means.

[phleshdef]

52. You are completely wrong... but obviously too stubborn to see it.

[Doctor_J]

53. Despite this detailed and lucid reply, I still don't see how

forcing everyone to have for-profit insurance is "a step toward" or "conceptually the same as" no one having for-profit insurance. If that makes me stubborn, I will live with it.

[phleshdef]

54. The goal is for everyone to have a financing mechanism for health care.

One public program would be preferred over several private plans. No one here is debating that. However, it was not legislatively possible. Even Bernie Sanders said as much and he has 1000 times more credibility on the topic than you do.

[closeupready]

28. I can't believe it's already been five years.

[0rganism]

38. in 30 years this mediocre law will cement Obama's status as a fantastic president

which is kind of funny considering how much effort the rightwingers have allocated to permanently attaching the ACA to Obama.
"Yes, Virginia, Obama really DID care!"
Obama's going to be Great because of this weak excuse for national health care, among other things. within my lifetime, i fully expect us to be looking for empty space on Mt. Rushmore.

[Doctor_J]

44. If this travesty is still in place in 30 years, we'll be nothing but a 3rd world toilet

Billions in mandatory annual payments to useless, blood-thirty profiteers? Check

Medical bankruptcy? Check

Unaffordable deductibles and co-pays? Check

[0rganism]

55. if we've proven anything as a country, it's that we can sustain unacceptable burdens

medical bankruptcy and unaffordable deductables/co-pays were the norm for ... well i dunno, but it seems like a long time.
mandatory annual payments to blood-thirsty profiteers reinforces the ACA's staying power.

yep, damn the consequences, it's here for the long haul.

[Doctor_J]

45. Everyone is! Many countries are doing away with health care and substituting for-profit insurance

Wait...no they're not

[underpants]

51. BTW - Right Wing radio ( and probably Fox) are in full rewrite history and attacking mode

Call in show yesterday afternoon had all the normal talking points and caller types.
"Premiums have increased!" - no mention of the lowest rate in 20 years.
Several callers had the "nightmare" examples. The all said they were paying around $250/month with one lady admitting that she got a $100/month discount ... oh but she HATES Obamacare.
The host referred to it as "the ACA" which is telling. He went on to say how WONDERFUL the old system was and how "everyone loved it".
One caller said her employer (small business I think) used to pay all expenses but "because of Obama" he couldn't anymore. Uh he could still pay what he did before he is just using Obamacare as an excuse.

This morning the non-call in show had a benefits expert on. The host posed this question, "How have all these regulations affected your industry?" The "expert" dutifully stated that it was limiting choices. He actually mentioned the Medical Loss Ratio but he said it was 85% (it's 80%) adding how that had driven companies, citing examples, out of the business because they "can't operate at that low of an overhead" --- which is the major part of the problem.

[VideoGameVet]

56. Employers shrug off Obamacare, robbing Republicans of a campaign issue

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obamacare-fades-as-a-republican-campaign-issue-200355242.html

Employers shrug off Obamacare, robbing Republicans of a campaign issue

ust 18 months ago, a Republican fantasy seemed about to come true.

The Affordable Care Act was in the midst of a disastrous rollout plagued by dialup-stye technology snafus. President Obama had sabotaged his own health-reform plan by falsely promising that everybody happy with their health plan could keep it. As frozen computer screens and canceled policies generated a tsunami of bad publicity, it seemed plausible that Obamacare might be such a flop that voters would clamor for its repeal when the next presidential election came around.

Now, with the next presidential election underway, nothing of the sort is happening. The problems that marred the rollout of Obamacare have been fixed. The law, meanwhile, is reducing the number of Americans who lack health coverage as intended, as a new report from the Rand Corp. shows. And just as important, many unintended consequences that critics of the law predicted have failed to materialize.

"The American people don’t live in the ACA bubble,” Drew Altman, CEO of the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, wrote recently. “It is striking how divorced the overall public’s top priorities are from the continued political wrangling over the Affordable Care Act.”

Most of the Republican presidential candidates (both declared and presumed to be running) have voiced strong opposition to the ACA and promised to make it a top campaign issue. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls it a “monstrosity” and says the government should replace it with stripped-down coverage that’s more “consumer-directed.” Sen. Marco Rubio wants to repeal Obamacare, even though it covers 1.6 million people in his home state of Florida. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, got his start as a Tea Party favorite by ranting against Obamacare and claiming that it’s “the worst thing that has happened in this country since slavery.”

But Americans are warming to the controversial program. A recent Gallup poll shows a sharp rise in public approval of how the government handles healthcare, from 29% in 2013 to 43% today. By the time the 2016 election arrives, Obamacare bashers may have an even tougher time making the case against the law. Here’s why:

“Socalized medicine” hasn’t materialized. One big concern about the ACA was the possibility it would undermine the current system of employer-provided health insurance and lead to a market in which the government is the dominant provider of healthcare. There’s no sign of that happening. The Rand study, in fact, finds that the number of people with insurance provided by their employer rose by 8 million between 2013 and early 2015, as the chart below shows. That gain exceeds the number of jobs created during that time, suggesting that some people who could have gotten coverage through their employer before but didn't have changed their minds and signed up, since the law now requires them to have coverage. If anything, that strengthens the system of employer-sponsored insurance, which is how 60% of non-elderly Americans get their coverage.

View photo
.Source: Rand Corp.
Source: Rand Corp.
Obamacare hasn’t killed jobs. Republicans repeatedly lambasted Obamacare as a “job killer,” but it doesn’t seem to be that, either. Since the law fully took effect at the beginning of 2014, employers have created about 3.5 million new jobs, a very strong pace of job growth comparable with the late 1990s. The Gallup job-creation index, meanwhile, recently hit the highest levels since 2008. It's unlikely Obamacare is directly contributing to job growth, but it sure doesen’t seem to be harming it.

The law has helped the uninsured. The number of non-elderly adults who lack insurance has plunged from 42.7 million right before Obamacare went into effect to 25.8 million now, according to Rand. That’s an extra 16.9 million Americans who have gained coverage in less than 2 years.

There aren’t that many people negatively affected by the law. If Obama were to get a do-over on the ACA, one thing he’d probably change is the provision requiring every policy to cover a minimum set of services, which led to the widespread cancellation of certain types of policies and the repudiation of Obama’s own claim about everybody being able to keep their insurance plan if they wanted to. But the total number of people who lost coverage has turned out to be smaller than the huge controversy may have suggested.

The Rand study found that the number of people with “nongroup” coverage—plans purchased individually from an insurer, rather than provided through an employer—dropped by 1.9 million between 2013 and 2015. At least some of those, and possibly most, were policies canceled against the policyholder’s wishes because the plan failed to meet minimum coverage requirements. The harm done to nongroup policyholders, in the name of helping others, is a notable and unnecessary flaw of the ACA. But 1.9 million policyholders is only 1.1% of all non-elderly adults with insurance. There won’t be a lot of voters going to the polls on Election Day in 2106 who lost insurance because of Obamacare.

There are still plenty of problems with the ACA and with the U.S. healthcare system overall. Costs are still rising faster than inflation, with a growing portion of many families’ disposable income going toward healthcare instead of rent, food, education or savings. While the cost of premiums has flattened out, the cost of deductibles, co-pays and other out-of-pocket expenses has soared. The Affordable Care Act remains a misnomer, because healthcare remains far from affordable for many families.

Obamacare also faces a serious Supreme Court challenge in a case known as King v. Burwell, with the justices due to issue a ruling in June. If they side with the plaintiffs, the law will become invalid in 34 states and will basically cease to function. Nobody knows how the justices will rule, but striking down key provisions of the law would suddenly make healthcare a top issue in the presidential campaign once again.

If the ACA survives the Supreme Court, on the other hand, legal challenges to its existence may wind down, and negative publicity could finally subside. And Republicans may need to find something else to get voters fired up about.