Analysis: The moment Americans embrace Obamacare. And why it could not pass

It has angered conservatives by imposing more government control over the healthcare industry.

This has disappointed liberals who are convinced that it has not done enough.

Political 180

Now Democrats are more likely to pledge to protect the law to avoid another possible shootout in the November midterm elections.

Appearing at the White House on Tuesday, Obama said the law would extend coverage to 30 million Americans.

It’s even more popular today, he said, “because what was supposed to be done has been done.”

Republicans who nowadays suggest repealing it could quickly issue a statement that is not their current priority.

John Harwood Sen of CNN. Look at the example of Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who was once a fierce critic of the ACA, but who issued such a statement in March.

The table is overturned.

The law is still not quite popular

Since March 2022, the Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll has found that most Americans – 55% – have a favorable view of the ACA, compared with 42% having a negative view.

And the law is still tainted by bias: most Democrats view it favorably, while most Republicans view it unfavorably, in the Kaiser’s vote.

When I asked CNN’s Tami Luhby, who covers healthcare policy, what has changed the public mind about ACA, he says it’s almost lost.

The moment the public bought into the Affordable Care Act

Looking at a graph of Kaiser’s votes, it’s hard to notice that the ACA has been more popular than unpopular since the moment Obama left office.

A change of attitude is seen In early 2017, when former President Donald Trump entered Washington and Republicans had control of the House and Senate. Abolishing the Affordable Care Act was among their top priorities. Perhaps it was the danger of losing that some Americans appreciated.

Republicans at the time were on the verge of repealing it, and if it weren’t for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s surprise move to deprive his party and protect the law, it would be gone today.

Unfinished business

The problem of healthcare access and affordability is far from solved, and the price of prescription drugs in particular is a major problem for voters. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation in December found that a significant portion of Americans have difficulty caring for teeth, vision and other things that are not covered by insurance.

President Joe Biden joined Obama at the White House on Tuesday to announce a new rule to fix a flaw in the law that excluded some families from receiving federal subsidies to buy insurance at the healthcare exchanges it created.

Related: Low-income Americans can now sign up for Obamacare plans with a 0 premium

More than the ACA exchange

There is a common misconception that only those who purchase their insurance on the ACA exchange have “Obamacare”. That’s how the number of people buying insurance has increased, but with the widespread spread of Medicaid, more people are getting insurance from the law.

Voters support Medicaid expansion

Not all states have yet expanded their Medicaid programs, but when voters, even in the red states, are given the opportunity to do so through the ballot initiative, they do. In the case of Idaho, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah it is, according to a tally kept by the Kaiser.

Other changes implemented by law have always been popular, such as guaranteeing access to coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to stay in their parental plan.

“It’s so woven into the fabric of the American healthcare system that you can no longer tear it apart,” Luhby told me.

This is why Republicans have fought so hard

CNN Political Director David Chalian He said in a divisive environment when the law is passed it may seem unimaginable that it would one day become so hostile.

“But that’s exactly what Republicans imagined, and in part, why they fought so hard – they realized (as many Democrats did) that once you pass such a huge government benefit in law, it’s very, very difficult to do. Get rid of it – they almost always tend to be more popular over time. (See: Medicare) “

A long time is coming

Efforts to pass the Affordable Care Act have been going on for almost a year. But the fight for healthcare in the United States has been going on for generations, from the late 1800s to the late 1960s through the passage of Medicare and continues to this day.

Progressives like Sen. Verney’s Barney Sanders is still pushing for government-run healthcare options for young Americans, which Biden does not support.

How else can it be done?

The bill passed by the ACA took a veto-proof Democratic majority to pass into law, and it cost Democrats so much political power in the short term. It is difficult to imagine which party would get the veto-proof majority to pass a major law in the Senate in the near future.

This is bad news for other issues that need attention, such as climate change, which is rapidly changing the world, and immigration, which multiple presidents have tried and failed to address in a big way.

Can the ACA pass today?

It was actually the same Congress that passed the Affordable Care Act that passed a large portion of the Climate Change Act through the House. It failed in the Senate.

The problem of climate change has only intensified in the intervening years, but the prospect of a major US intervention seems far from certain. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, was elected the first senator in 2010 with a pledge to block climate change legislation from West Virginia, just last year.

He then said he would also oppose the Affordable Care Act, which means it will never pass in Washington today.