The Perils of Trying to Repeal Health Care Reform

Conservatives, flush from their election victory, are promising a big effort to repeal health care reform in the next Congress. They should reconsider. Not only are they likely to fail to achieve their goal but they also are likely to become very unpopular in the process. This is because most parts of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, are actually quite popular and any attempt to repeal them could very well turn public sentiment against the repeal advocates.

Consider these data from the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The poll tested public support for repealing six elements of ACA and found strong majority support for retaining five of the six elements: tax credits for small business to offer health care coverage (78 percent keep to 18 percent repeal); closing the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole (72 percent keep to 22 percent repeal); providing financial help for those who don’t get insurance through their jobs (71 percent keep to 24 percent repeal); no denial of insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions (71 percent keep to 26 percent repeal); and increasing the Medicare payroll tax on upper-income Americans (54 percent keep to 39 percent repeal). Only the individual mandate was not supported.



That’s the public as a whole. But even among those who say all or parts of ACA should be repealed support runs strong for four of the six elements tested: 68 percent for the small business subsidies; 62 percent for prohibiting denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions; 60 percent for closing the doughnut hole; and 55 percent for individual subsidies.



Conservatives shouldn’t kid themselves. Repealing ACA means taking away key reforms that have very broad public support. And that is likely to displease the public greatly no matter what conservatives think.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/11/snapshot111510.html

Thank God we don't live in a Democracy.

Why dont you think people should have health care? I have friends and family that are laid off, no insurence. If they get sick they have to go to an emergency room and its paid for anyhow.

He's just showing us all that he's in the 18 percent, Best.

One of the minority!

Poll is skewed...

All questions asked were about the perceived 'good' aspects of the bill...

Not a single question about the transfer of costs to the states (which will force the states to raise taxes to cover).

Not a single question about the taxes on medical equipment, taxes on business that provide better medical coverage than the law allows, special interest 'waivers' and all the other nasty parts of the bill...

And notice the individual mandate part... overwelming for repeal. With out that part the bill cannot be FINANCED. (WITHOUT RAISING TAXES TO NEAR 90%)

There appears to be a concerted effort to keep the American public unaware of the 'bad' aspects while concentrating on the 'humanistic' aspects...

Interesting that some feel we are actually that stupid.

I think the Democrats created this problem when they linked Health Insurance with employment. I think that only the truly needy should get a free ride. I think that there are better ways to do this than a 2000+ page law that turns the IRS into a branch of law enforcement.

I hardly call basic health care a free ride...... What is your solution? I suppose when things get bad enough we will have egypt type riots in this country. Maybe that is what we need at this point.

If someone else is paying your way, it's a free ride.

Why don't YOU tell us about all these things?

Right. That's the system we have now. Wopuldn't be like that under the ACA or Single-Payer.

Single payer is the height of free rides. All healthcare costs paid by the government. I really hope the US doesn't go that way, there are so many great free market ideas that haven't been tried.

You DO see what's wrong with this statement, don't you?

Why don't you tell us about some of these great free market ideas?

Our current free market healthcare involves the investing class buying stocks in medical and then raising the rates on the workers and cutting back on actual care. Its just a cash cow for the investing elites. ya know that top 2% THAT GETS ALL THE TAX BREAKS

LOL You weren't supposed to notice that part!

Certainly.

Make health insurance 100% tax deductible regardless of if you purchase through your company or privately. The same should apply to dental and vision plans.

No Government mandates on what health insurance should cover. So as a single male, I can purchase a health insurance plan that doesn't include viagra, mammograms, abortions, etc that he doesn't need. This would lower the cost for most insurance buyers.

Allow competition, by allowing customers to buy from any insurance company and across state lines.

Institute a law that would allow an insured person who didn't feel he or she was getting the proper care to file a grievance and if the insurance company is found in the wrong, the customer would be able to move to any other insurance company of their choice and force their previous insurer to cover any "pre-existing condition" penalties or fees.

Tort reform, to limit maximum damages for law suits against medical professionals. Also, the law should be changed so that losers have to pay the winners legal fees. These combined would reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits and lower the cost of malpractice insurance.

Fix the Medicare / Medicaid systems, so that their payments were in line with current costs. Currently both systems underpay on medical procedures and overpay on medical devices. Neither system takes advantage of bulk discounts and their waste on medical devices would allow them to bring up their payments on medical procedures in line with the market.

Many conservatives and libertarians have suggested these changes throughout the health care debate, but they have been ignored.

How would this curb the cost of health care? The Insurance companies continue to collect excessive profits, users get a break on taxes, Government receives less revenues, less money for police, roads, FEMA, uninsured people are only marginally more able to afford insurance, poor people remain uninsured. Actual health care costs as much as ever. Total health care system costs just as much as ever. The people most benefitted are those who can already afford insurance.The more specialized an insurance policy becomes, the closer the premiums approach the out-of-pocket cost of the actual health care, plus a premium for insurance profits. Defeats the whole purpose of insurance. Spreads the risk among fewer and fewer people.
Good idea. So why can't we get Mccarron Ferguson repealed? Could it be that the insurance companies like having anti-trust exemption?All this could be accomplished under current tort law. Thats' what law suits are for.
Whole different topic. Too much to summarize here.

No argument here. I think they made a good start eliminating Medicare Plus from the program. It never made sense to be using Medicare funds to pay for private insurance plans.

In most cases, deservedly so.

medical malpractise is 2% of a medical bill and good luck fighting multi billion dollar insurence company on your own. One good way to reduce costs is to buy drugs from Canada. Drugs from canada cost 40% less yet the solution is to deny a person a right to sue saveing a mere 2%? Everything the free market supports reduces the power of an individual but that realy is the republican solution, more for them less for you.

Yea because the people who created this article\graphes arn't paartisan..............