Pirate's Cove

Gee, what’s not to love about legislation that remakes 1/6th of the US economy, insinuating the Government into all our health decisions, raising costs, creating yet another unfunded liability where a board of unelected bureaucrats will be able to make decisions that affect our quality of health care (IPBA), where companies will drop their generous insurance plans, etc and so on. You know the hit parade

Will Americans ever love Obamacare?

All through the Obama years, backers of the Affordable Care Act have lifted their spirits with a consistent refrain: Just you wait.

Someday, the law’s backers insisted, Obamacare will make the transition from a divisive idea to a widely popular one, from a program that many people still find confusing and scary to a familiar and comforting part of American life.

This weekend, which marks the third anniversary of the law’s passage, one thing remains clear: Someday has not yet arrived, and may not for a long time.

A two thousand plus page piece of legislation that few, if any, who voted for it read, which has resulted in over 30,000 pages of regulations (so far) which the majority of Americans were dead set against before passage, and still are.

(HuffPo) Overall, public opinion remains mixed and heavily influenced by political party affiliation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation poll, conducted earlier this month, reveals. Forty percent of those surveyed said they have an unfavorable view of the reform law, 37 percent hold a favorable view and 23 percent had no opinion. Among Republicans, 68 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of Obamacare, while 45 percent of independents said they had an unfavorable opinion. Among Democrats, 58 percent said they liked the law. These findings are roughly consistent with the foundation’s polling over the last three years, although the percentage with a favorable view has crept downward in recent months.

It’s worse than that

(Washington Examiner) Kaiser’s health tracking poll found that 37 percent of Democrats said “the cost of health care for the nation as a whole” would be better as a result of the law, just 39 percent said health care quality would be better and 27 percent said consumer protections for private insurance would be better. However, 53 percent of Democrats said the law would improve access to health care for the uninsured.

The numbers are worse for the population as a whole. When Republicans and independents are included, just 21 percent believe Obamacare will improve costs and 24 percent say it will improve quality.

Everything about Obamacare is designed to move the country towards Single Payer, rather than looking to reduce costs and increase quality of service. This goes hand in hand with what Democrats have been hell bent on doing for decades, namely getting as many people as possible into government dependency programs, creating people who should vote Democrat.

Congratulations, America: this is what you voted for in 2012. Of course, let’s not forget that the minute someone is nailed by the IRS for failing to obtain health insurance the lawsuits will be back on. That’s the main point from the Supreme Court decision.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted 79-20 to repeal the medical device tax last night. Alas, it was an amendment to a bill that did not pass. We’ll see if someone brings it up on its own.