FixHealthCarePolicy

Americans Are Not Buying Obamacare

We noted last week that that poll after poll shows Americans just aren’t buying his all gain, no pain, health care claims. The New York Times’s Kevin Sack puts some voices to those poll numbers:

“The Browns are Jamaican immigrants who met in college in Florida. Mr. Brown gained citizenship in 1999; his wife expects to do so next year. The family is insured through his job at a family-owned trophy shop, where he earns about $38,000 a year. … “The bottom line is there are so many unknowns,” said Ms. Brown, 35, who works part time at her church and cares for her young children. “What we do know is there is going to be more government control, and with more control you’re going to have fewer choices. It’s an innate part of being American to have those choices.”
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“Ms. Ventura, 44, who also attends community college, has moved her ailing mother into the living room of the house she shares with her disabled husband. She said she recently discovered a lump on her left foot but cannot afford to see a doctor about it. Yet she is cynical about Mr. Obama’s prescription. … “You see,” she said, gesturing at Mr. Obama on the television, “he’s saying he wants to continue private insurance, but then he says they’re part of the problem. Well, which is it? It’s just ridiculous.”
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“Dean Raschke, a McCain voter who owns two Chicago-area businesses, one providing roadside assistance and the other making debit cards, said he worried that Washington would end up taxing the health benefits he provides to his 50 employees. He said he also feared that Congress would raise his income taxes to pay for the plan, although his earnings are well below the $1-million-a-year threshold now being considered. … “I have very conflicted emotions because I do want to help people who aren’t as fortunate as we are,” said Mr. Raschke, 38, watching the news conference with his wife, Jill. “But I have a big issue about what this health care plan would do to small businesses like mine that already have a health care plan. I’m afraid that people could be unintentionally harmed.”