Obamacare's 54 Percenters
by idgby
The latest polling isn't too bad:
The latest CNN/ORC International poll showed that 53 percent of Americans think it's too early to characterize the health care law as a failure, while 54 percent expressed optimism that the problems currently plaguing Obamacare be resolved.
Almost four in 10 called the law a failure and 45 percent said its flaws will never be fixed.
The survey also showed a majority of Americans (58 percent) are opposed to the Affordable Care Act — a continuation of a recent trend —but the pollsters provided context for the source of the opposition.
Forty-one percent said they oppose the law because it's too liberal, while 14 percent said it isn't liberal enough. As CNN noted, this means that 54 percent either support the Affordable Care Act or believe it isn't liberal enough.
A pretty good majority thinks the mess will be fixed. Unfortunately, it's composed of liberals and moderates so I have very little faith that this congress will be able to do anything about it. So it's up to the administration to use whatever executive power it has in the short run. But this also means that progressives have to come out of their defensive crouches and start building a mandate for really needs to be done to improve this thing. Obviously, we need to work on the Medicaid part --- this reform will never be seen as a success if millions and millions of working poor are the only people who have no way to get coverage. There are actual winners and losers, some of whom can afford to be losers and some of whom cannot. And there are issues that are going to come to the fore in individual states that will have to be attended to.
Beyond that are a whole lot of interesting ideas out there, from ending the anti-trust exemption for insurance to single payer coming online in Vermont, and we should be exploring all of them. Despite all the hysteria, a majority of the people are hanging in there and are, quite rationally, withholding final judgement until the thing is actually in effect. It gives you a little faith in the power of reason, doesn't it?
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