Tuesday, September 15, 2009

ObamaCare's steep climb

What is President Obama going to do next to boost his government-run health care plan? Give another speech?

USA Today gives ObamaCare a prognosis:

Six in 10 say Obama's proposal, if enacted, would not achieve his goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans without raising taxes on the middle class or lowering the quality of health care. For the first time, a majority disapprove of the way he's handling health care policy.

Milton Downing, 51, a teacher from Wilmington, Del., is a Democrat who says Obama is doing an "awesome" job, but he worries the legislation might upend the coverage he has. "How would it affect me right now and in the future?" he asks. "I don't have enough facts on what it might do to my family."

The findings underscore the steep climb ahead for the White House in trying to push a health care plan through the House and Senate during the next few weeks. Some major provisions, including how to pay for it and whether to include a government-run plan as an option, haven't been settled.

The president's speech apparently failed to galvanize public opinion in the way the White House had hoped. While it drew a national television audience estimated by Nielsen at more than 32 million people, there's little evidence in the survey that it changed minds.

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