Why Do People Hate Obamacare, Anyway?

[ehrnst]

The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has roiled America since the day it was signed into law in 2010. From the start, the public was almost evenly divided between those who supported it and those who opposed it.

They still are. The November monthly tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found 50 percent of those polled had a favorable view of the health law, while 46 percent viewed it unfavorably. Partisan politics drives the split. Eighty percent of Democrats were supportive in November, while 81 percent of Republicans were strongly negative.
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Conservatives and libertarians strongly object to the federal government becoming ever more involved in the nation’s healthcare system. While the refrain that the ACA represented a “government takeover” of healthcare was a significant exaggeration, the law did insinuate the government significantly further in its funding and oversight of healthcare.
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Even some of the main arguments made by the law’s supporters are not well understood. For example, the health law is responsible for some 20 million Americans gaining health insurance. Yet in 2016, when the uninsured rate hit an all-time low, only one-quarter of respondents to the Kaiser tracking poll knew that. A little under half thought the rate had remained unchanged, and 21 percent thought the rate had risen to an all-time high.

https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/kzgwzz/obamacare-pros-and-cons

[AlexSFCA]

1. because faux news told them so

[Johonny]

10. Death Panels!!!!!

I enjoy the polls that show people love all the parts of the ACA bill so long as you don't tell them it's what Obamacare is. People are...

[greymattermom]

2. A lot of folks get health insurance from their job

and don't have a choice. They don't have to figure out what they need, sign up, and pay for it directly. Like anything else, it's complicated.

[greenman3610]

3. racism plain and simple

[Kilgore]

4. Horrible value for what you get

For my family of three, we pay a $1,300 per month premium and have a $10,000 deductible. We essentially make a second mortage payment to insurance company.

Pre Obamacare, our costs were about half with a $1,500 deductible.

For our family it sucks and was sucking us dry financially. We dropped the plan and signed up with Medishare at a significantly lower cost. Yes, i know there is less coverage, but at least we can afford it.

[ehrnst]

6. As the article states, some people had it worse under Obamacare.

Some People Actually Are Worse Off

The ACA did create some losers. Healthy people who managed to buy individual health insurance before the law’s passage have seen their premiums and out-of-pocket costs soar as insurers have raised prices to accommodate sicker people who had been largely shut out of coverage. Among those hardest hit are people who earn just slightly too much to qualify for federal premium subsidies, particularly early retirees and people in their 50s and early 60s who are self-employed.

Many of those people would have been helped if Democrats had been able to pass some of their original ideas for the ACA, including a “public option” plan run by the government, or a “Medicare buy-in” that would have given people age 55 and older the option of purchasing Medicare coverage before the normal eligibility age of 65. Both were rejected by more conservative Democrats in the Senate.


Other people found themselves in a “coverage gap” after the Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that the ACA requirement for states to expand Medicaid had to be optional. That meant people with incomes under the poverty line but still too high to qualify for Medicaid in their states have no affordable program available.

[Kilgore]

9. And we are an example of those folks.

[better]

5. We need to be a lot more observant, and connect many more dots to arrive at the correct answer.

For example, it is in very large part because many people have had experiences like those Kilgore mentions above, but have failed to take into account things like Marco Rubio sabotaging the risk corridor payments, and thus improperly associate their disgust with Obamacare, rather than with its sabotage, where it rightly belongs.

Yes, rates have increased since the introduction of Obamacare, but that was never a function of the bill itself, but rather a function of the fact that Republicans very effectively sabotaged Obamacare, knowing full well that it would cause rates to skyrocket. And that was fine, as long as it served their highest callings of sticking it to the black man in the White House and winning the next election.

In short, people hate Obamacare usually for one of three reasons:

1 - They hate blacks, and/or were relentlessly lied to about the bill because their programmers hate blacks.
2 - They hate democrats, and/or were relentlessly lied to about the bill because their programmers hate democrats.
3 - They either did not pay close enough attention to recognize the source of the problems that arose from Obamacare and were duped into blaming the bill rather than the sabotage of the bill, or they did recognize the sabotage and didn't care because of reason 1 and/or 2.

[Orsino]

7. Because they're very wealthy or because they're racists.

Sometimes both.

[lpbk2713]

8. They have been conditioned.

Anything Faux Snooze or the other RW Hatemonger types associate with Obama is automatically bad.

[NewJeffCT]

11. because they're afraid that it will mean cuts to their government insurance

like Medicare, or that they will lose the ability to see their family doctor that they've been seeing for 20-30 years or that they'll have rationed health care and unfeeling bureaucrats sitting on panels will make live and death decisions for them.

At least, that is what Fox News told them

[Hortensis]

12. Because they want to lose their homes to uninsured

previous conditions? Drawn to the lure of "simplified" lives?

Because they miss the thrill of risking a letter cancelling their policy when they develop diabetes?

Because life's boring when their know their insurance will always cover any cancer recurrences?

[kydo]

13. The name. When called the ACA most like much of what it has to offer.

[McCamy Taylor]

14. They want "Medicare for Whites" and disease and death for everyone else.

Because they are insecure little weasels who only feel important when they can gloat over the misery of someone else.

[Garrett78]

15. Pretty much. Persons of color would benefit. On top of that, Obama is Black.

It's why Nixon employed the Southern Strategy. It's why Reagan gave his first campaign speech on "states' rights" near the spot where civil rights workers were killed. It's why Trump tweeted "Make America Great Again" in response to accusations of racism.

Dog whistle, dog whistle, dog whistle...and if that's not working, just be overt.

There are people who like the ACA but hate Obamacare. Racism and stupidity sums up the GOP electorate.

[VOX]

16. When they find out what "Obamacare" really is, they usually like it.

But if you listen to Rush and Hannity all day, then turn on Fox News like a talking night light, and read Alex Jones during the commercials -- you'll absolutely hate it, it's a power grab, a ponzi scheme, a liberal hellscape-maker with death panels, etc., etc.

But if/when these folks find out it's the Affordable Care Act, and covers pre-existing conditions, well, you've got their attention.

[TCJ70]

17. Do you get your insurance through the marketplace?

It’s not great. Particularly for family insurance. The individual market is an absolute disaster right now. If you don’t qualify for help don’t even think about it.