Republicans Wrong On Health Care Reform

The Republican Party (and their presidential candidate, Willard Mitt Romney) seem to think they have a pretty good issue in their opposition to health care reform. The congressional Republicans are still trying to overturn "Obamacare", and Romney promises that if elected he will do away with it immediately (even though it is a mirror image of the health care reform he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts).

And recent polls give the illusion that the Republicans might have significant support for their repeal efforts. When asked simply if they support or oppose Obamacare, about half of respondents say they oppose it. This is verified by a recent Associated Press/GfK Poll, where 50% of those surveyed said they opposed President Obama's health care reform (while 48% said they supported it).

That's within the margin of error, but still makes it look like about half the population doesn't want any health care reform. But if the Republicans (or other people) believe that, then they are sadly mistaken. Another question in the same survey (taken between June 14th and 18th of a random national sample of 1,007 adults, with a 4 point margin of error) shows that a huge majority of Americans do want health care reform. Look at these numbers:

IF THE SUPREME COURT RULES OBAMACARE TO BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL, WHAT SHOULD THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO?
77% -- start work on a new health care reform bill
19% -- leave health care system as it is
4% -- don't know

That makes it pretty clear. More than 3 out of 4 Americans know the current system is broken and want it changed. Many of them just don't want (or don't understand) the health care reform passed by the Democrats and signed by President Obama.

I think most Americans want college students up to age 26 to be covered by their parents' insurance, want pre-existing conditions to be disregarded in issuing insurance, oppose lifetime limits on how much insurance will pay, and don't want their insurance discontinued if they get a serious illness. In other words, they actually like most of Obamacare.

What they don't like is the requirement for everyone to buy insurance (commonly called the insurance mandate). They think this would financially hurt people already having trouble making ends meet in this recession economy. The sad part is that it's just not true. The government would help people buy the insurance, based on their family income -- and this help would extend into middle class salaries (well above the median income). No one would be forced to spend money they couldn't afford.

The president and the Democrats must accept the blame for not explaining this well enough, causing people to misunderstand the financial impact of the individual mandate. But the Republicans have also misunderstood what the public wants.

Some Republicans have said they would pass their own version of health care reform once Obamacare is repealed. But congressional Republicans have been trying to come up with their own plan for months, and have been unable to agree on any reform plan. A significant portion of them don't want any reform at all, and the rest can't agree on what kind of reform is needed. The closest thing to a plan they have come up with is to abolish Medicare and Medicaid (which a huge majority of Americans oppose).

The Republicans are hoping that the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare, but that could be the worst thing for them. If it is overturned, the people would demand a plan for reform from them -- and they have nothing to offer but the status quo (which is unacceptable to 77% of Americans).

Sometimes when you get what you want, you find out it wasn't what you really wanted after all. I think that could be what is happening to Republicans right now.