Americans know our healthcare “system” is broken
by David O. Atkins
I wanted to follow up on something Digby said earlier this morning: people are going to be patient with Obamacare not just because they need to be, but also because they want to be. That sounds like a weird statement, but consider this reminder from Greg Sargent:
But the new Post/ABC poll takes this further, confirming that the horrific web-based problems we’re seeing right now with the Obamacare exchanges — which Republicans cite as evidence the law is a catastrophe that must be blotted from the landscape – are not producing support for the GOP position, either.
The poll finds that only 41 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the law’s implementation, versus 53 percent who disapprove. Fifty six percent say the website problems are a symptom of broader implementation issues — meaning the public is adopting a very harsh view of these problems.
But even despite this, only one third of Americans support repealing the law. A sizable bloc of those who oppose the law want it to continue, anyway.
The poll finds that 46 percent support the law, versus 54 percent who oppose it or are unsure of their feelings about it. But that second bloc breaks down into 33 percent who oppose and want repeal, versus 20 percent who oppose the law and want to let the law go ahead. That means a total of 66 percent either support the law or oppose it but want it to go forward.
This is the case, even though a majority believes the law has problems that run deeper than the ones we’re seeing with the web site. And that finding is similar among independents, too.
I asked the Post polling team for a further breakdown. Of those Americans who think the law’s problems run deeper than the Web site, even they are almost evenly divided on whether to give the law a chance. Of that group, 51 percent want it repealed, while 47 either support it or oppose it but want to let it continue.
Becoming “the party of ideas” is one of the most trite and overused phrases in politics, but it’s particularly relevant here.
Almost everyone knows the American healthcare system is broken. It’s obvious. People may have different ideas about how to fix it, but the status quo isn’t acceptable. Progressives have long argued with very good reason that single-payer of some sort is the only option that makes much sense. But even within single-payer there are many variations, ranging from the British completely government-controlled system to a heavily regulated public-private system like in Switzerland. As it is, Obamacare was the conservative solution of the past, created by the Heritage Foundation and implemented in Massachusetts by Mitt Romney. It’s almost certainly not the best answer, but it’s definitely better than the status quo.
Part of what has so dramatically hurt Republicans over Obamacare isn’t just that they were willing to shut down the government in order to repeal it. It’s that they have no alternative, beyond some almost totally ineffectual bromides like “tort reform” and selling insurance across state lines.
People might not like Obamacare and the answer it gives. They might prefer single payer, or they might have been demagogued against some detail of Obamacare, or they might prefer some mythical “free market” solution. But something had to change and almost everyone knows it.
Right now, the Democratic Party is the only one offering an answer, and right now that answer is Obamacare. People might not be thrilled with it, but they’re going to give it a chance. The Republicans aren’t offering them anything at all. They have quite literally run out of ideas beyond just letting poor people get sick and die.
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