… For more than seven years Republicans have told themselves the public hates Obamacare because it “limits freedom” or because it contains too many taxes (the lion’s share applicable only to the very rich). In fact, what upsets people is Obamacare’s failure to make good on its promise to lower premiums and deductibles. Polls consistently showed that the percentage of those who liked Obamacare or wanted it to be more generous dwarfed the percentage of those who wanted to scrap it. There is not a large constituency for minimalist federal government, no matter how fervently the speaker of the House pines for defederalized Medicaid. The public wants Obamacare to work better and deliver more coverage with lower out-of-pocket costs. That may be entirely unrealistic, but that’s where the voters were coming from. Republicans have badly misread the public’s attitude toward government and toward health care specifically. CONT.
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
Recent polls: Health care