Obamacare Poll- Americans May Finally "Get It"; But Republicans, Ahhh, Not So Much

Republicans quickly misrepresented a popularity poll recently reported about how Americans perceive the health care reform called "Obamacare".  

Probably, the poll was taken, because the US House recently wasted even more time and money to vote to repeal the health care reform law - an obsessive compulsive reaction to the law . 

CNN commissioned a poll to determine if this repetitious waste of time is somehow gaining traction with the public.  What's evident in the poll is that the public has not moved on this issue.

Nevertheless, it turns out, Republicans jumped to the conclusion that Americans oppose the health care reform law. In fact, a break down of the data shows how those who oppose the law say it's because they actually want an expansion of the benefits.  

Health care colleagues I know say people who oppose "Obamacare" do so because they prefer a single payer system.

(Dateline) Washington (CNN) - CNN's latest health care poll, released Monday, is in the political crossfire. Conservatives say it's proof the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unpopular. Liberals, on the other hand, say it's a call for more reform and an aggressive policy to develop national health care.

As mentioned at the time, the national survey found that "a majority of Americans still oppose the nation's new health care measure, three years after it became law."

But, as was pointed out immediately in the second paragraph of the CNN story, " a CNN/ORC International poll released Monday also indicates that more than a quarter of those who oppose Obamacare, say they don't support the measure because it doesn't go far enough."

As you can imagine, after the poll went up online, opponents of the Affordable Care Act highlighted the first number in the survey, that 54% of Americans say they oppose the law.

But it's far from the whole story.

Supporters of the law point to the second number in the survey: That 35% oppose the health care law because it's too liberal, with 16% saying they oppose the measure because it isn't liberal enough. Add that 16% to the 44% who say they favor the law and that means that six in ten either support the law or don't think it goes far enough.

"It's sometimes difficult to remember, but at the start of the health care debate in 2009, many Democrats wanted nothing less than a single-payer system and were extremely disappointed when that approach was not part of the new law. That disappointment seems to have persisted among some groups," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

CNN has been asking the "support/oppose" question and the "too liberal/not liberal enough" breakdown since March 2010, before the bill was passed by a then Democrat controlled Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. The responses to both questions have stayed pretty much in the same ballpark over the three year period.

CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Rather than assist Americans with legislation to streamline the implementation of Obamacare; or educate providers about how to help the uninsured obtain access to health insurance coverage, the Republicans, instead, just want to cause trouble.  

A Republican misinformation campaign about Obamacare is intended to stir up fear and mistrust, two smear tactics they've certainly mastered, through their years of experience. 

Those who figured out how Obamacare might become a better benefit if it "morphs" into a national health plan, are on the right side of this issue.  Hopefully, these advocates will "get it" enough to vote the obstructionist Republicans out of office. In so doing,  Americans might be able seek a health care reform law the public can understand and support - in a single payer system. 

Let's get the polling data right and push harder for the health care reform Americans really want to support.