All the problems in the world laid at Obamacare’s feet
by digby
I honestly think that a whole lot of conservatives (and some not-so-bright Indies) will attribute all the existing problems with the health care system to Obamacare — long waits, insurance beefs, bad diagnoses, malpractice, high costs, all of it. They will easily convince themselves that it was great before and now it’s terrible even though it was really terrible before and is slightly less terrible now. After all, everybody said, “we have the best health care in the world!” Now it’s flawed. Thanks Obamacare.
I actually had a personal experience that leads me to believe that it might not just be coming from their own prejudice but from people who work in the health care business. I was on a typically long and arduous call the other day with an insurance rep trying to straighten out a billing error and was told right upfront that the whole thing was a mess because of Obamacare. I pointed out that the bill in question was from 2012, but this person insisted that the “changes” to the health care system had messed everything up. I don’t know if he was freelancing or if he’d been told that, but he said it. I know he was full of it, but I’d imagine there are others out there who would believe it. And when you combine that with the fact that employers are continuing to do what they’ve been doing for years — raising co-pays and reducing benefits — I suspect that some people are hearing similar tales from their workplace.
So, for a while at least, anyone who has a bad experience with the health care system will probably blame it on Obamacare if they’re inclined to think in “government can’t do anything right terms.” Some will undoubtedly believe it forever. The relevant question will be if the people want it repealed. And they don’t:
Even the GOP can only muster 33% to go back to the way it was.
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