Examiner Editorial: Public backlash concerning Obamacare grows
Examiner Editorial
November 27, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Two dozen Democrats from Republican-leaning districts who voted for the House version of President Barack Obama’s increasingly unpopular health care reform bill are beginning to feel a growing public backlash.
Reversethevote.org already has raised $123,105 that will be dedicated exclusively to defeating all 24, including Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., in 2010 if they don’t reject the final conference committee version of the bill. They “voted to take away your health care and put it in the hands of federal bureaucrats,” the Web site says. “Democrats made a choice. Next fall, voters will make a choice.”
They’re not the only ones. Twenty-nine other House Democrats who voted for the bill come from districts that Sen. John McCain carried, making them particularly vulnerable to an angry electorate that never bought into the “hope and change” hype in the first place.
Democratic senators who are up for re-election next year in nine states face the same dilemma. As support erodes for Obamacare’s massive tax increases and deep Medicare cuts, they must also consider the personal political cost. Only 38 percent of the public supports their health care plan, the lowest level of public support in more than two years. As more details of the 2,074-page behemoth — which most members of Congress admit they have not read — continue to trickle out, the more the poll numbers drop.
It’s not hard to figure out why. Obamacare was supposed to lower costs, extend coverage and improve Americans’ health care options. It does none of that.
Despite accounting gimmicks, Obamacare will cost $4.9 trillion in the next 20 years. This enormous sum will suck the wind out of an already-struggling economy. The plan includes higher premiums for younger workers, fines for those who refuse to purchase coverage, lower Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals, and job-killing taxes on employers. Obamacare also will force an estimated 5 million workers to lose their employer-provided coverage.
Federal taxpayers will be forced to pay for elective abortions, even though only 13 percent favor such coverage. As far as improving health care options is concerned, the administration wants to cut down on mammograms and slash Medicare Advantage for seniors to save money.
After all this spending and upheaval, 24 million Americans will remain uninsured in 2019. Every Democrat who ignores the public will and votes for this higher-cost, lower-care monstrosity will be held accountable.
Voters back home won’t let them forget it.
