Poll Shows Democrats Skeptical of ObamaCare; Media Mostly Silent

March 22nd, 2013 4:03 PM

On March 20, the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein reported that it seems Obamacare’s true costs are starting to sink in with its most ardent supporters: Democrats.  Despite years of the liberal media reporting that this new trillion dollar health care entitlement will save money over the next decade, that outcome is, to be generous, highly dubious, especially with the possibility of eleven million new illegals being able to apply for health care benefits, the cost of health care will have to increase. 

Klein wrote:

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.


Don’t expect this to be all over the media, especially the New York Times, which has long downplayed the bill’s unpopularity.

For example, last June before the ruling which upheld ObamaCare, the paper relegated dreadful poll numbers to paragraph 16 of Adam Liptak and Allison Kopicki’s columns last June. At the time, the bill’s approval rating was at 44%, and it looked as if the whole law would be tossed out.  Prepared for that eventuality, the Times hyped  public disapproval of life appointments to the Supreme Court, steeling themselves to make the unelected jurists the issue rather the unpopular health care law.

But while the media long to ignore the cold, hard truth about ObamaCare's unsustainable nature, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has grown skeptical, and the narrative that big government-run health care could be bad for America’s economic health is becoming more consolidated. 

There are intermittent rays of hope in the liberal media when it comes to the truth about Obama. For example, liberal columnist and Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle pressed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Wednesday about the rising health care costs in California. Forbes reported back in January that ObamaCare guarantees higher premiums. The Hill reported last December that health care costs continue to increase at a rate faster than wages.

Less than 40 percent of Democrats believe that government-run health care will lead to “better quality” and “consumer protection.”  This is happening even with the media largely falling down on the job when it comes to reporting on the disastrous side effects of the ill-considered ObamaCare health care overhaul. 

Imagine what would happen if the media at-large actually took their job seriously?   At least, the Hill  reported on the drop in Democratic support, and that should be commended.