Pirate's Cove

Many Liberals love Obamacare, as long as they aren’t the ones paying for it. Obama and Congressional Democrats (at least the ones in safe Districts who haven’t lost their seats) love it, because they, for the most part, aren’t using it themselves. Know who else really likes it? Big Insurance

(Daily Caller) Critics charge Obamacare’s individual mandate is boosting the profits of insurance companies, securing their loyalty to Democratic politicians.

Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin argued Tuesday that “the individual mandate is the greatest single act of corporate welfare in memory,” creating new customers for the insurance companies by fiat and subsidizing that coverage with tax dollars.

Rubin pointed out that during the debate over Obamacare, “Many conservatives bitterly criticized the influence of Big Insurance, correctly labeling it a prime example of corporate cronyism.” Now, she says, “it is both good politics and good policy to end this incestuous relationship.”

According to The New York Times, “the relationship between the Obama administration and insurers,” while initially contentious, “has evolved into a powerful, mutually beneficial partnership that has been a boon to the nation’s largest private health plans and led to a profitable surge in their Medicaid enrollment.”

Of course they love it. They’re making oodles of cash off of it. They’re able to offer expensive plans with high deductibles that people can’t afford to use. People are forced to obtain health insurance as the price of being a U.S. citizen

By a variety of measures, insurers are already benefitting from Obamacare. Since the law was signed, the Times notes, “share prices for four of the major insurance companies—Aetna, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth—have more than doubled, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has increased about 70 percent.”

Remember when Liberals were against Big Insurance, accusing them of all sorts of Bad Behavior? That was before BI was involved in crafting Obamacare, and is now wedded to the Democrat Party and Obama. They’re going to love it even more when all the delays unilaterally put in place by Obama, in total disregard to the actual law, come into force. Things like the employer mandate. Insurance companies certainly love when people are forced to purchase their products.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Guess Who Really, Really Likes Obamacare? »

Obamacare has been underwater in every Gallup poll since December, 2012 (and has been underwater in virtually every other poll taken by other pollsters). It has hit a new low as the new enrollment period starts

(Gallup) As the Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period begins, 37% of Americans say they approve of the law, one percentage point below the previous low in January. Fifty-six percent disapprove, the high in disapproval by one point.

Americans were slightly more positive than negative about the law around the time of the 2012 election, but they have consistently been more likely to disapprove than approve of the law in all surveys that have been conducted since then. Approval has been in the low 40% or high 30% range after a noticeable dip that occurred in early November 2013. This was shortly after millions of Americans received notices that their current policies were being canceled, which was at odds with President Barack Obama’s pledge that those who liked their plans could keep them. The president later said, by way of clarification, that Americans could keep their plans if those plans didn’t change after the ACA was passed.

Approval is only at 33% for Independents, and 8% for Republicans. Obviously, Democrats mostly approve of the law at 74%, and are so brainwashed most will still probably approve of Ocare after they have lost the plans they like, lost their employer sponsored plans, get downgraded to less than 30 hours a week, and/or lost their jobs due to costs.

Repeal is highly unlikely, given Obama’s veto power, but the law’s new low in approval — and new high in disapproval (56%) — could potentially have an impact on its future. The president himself has acknowledged he will consider modifications to the law, which could include repealing the tax on medical devices.

As long as Obama is president, repeal is unlikely. This creates a further problem in that by the time a Republican can take over the Presidency, the earliest being January 2017, this horrible law will have been imbedded for too long, so straight repeal will cause people problems. It will be incumbent on the GOP to make sure they have replace legislation ready to go which creates a smooth transition to a system that works much better.

As for repealing a few of the measures such as the tax on medical devices, while important, the underlying issues with the entire system remain.

Read: Gallup Poll: People Still Pretty Much Hate Obamacare »