With one week until the Supreme Court takes a look at Obamacare, which includes taxpayer funding for abortions and a $1 abortion surcharge that has pro-life groups upset, new polling data shows strong opposition.
Two-thirds of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll want the Supreme Court to throw out the individual mandate or the entire Obamacare law. The poll finds Americans oppose the law overall by 52-41 percent and 67 percent want the high court to scrap all or part of the law.
Independents oppose the law by 51-43 percent, with strong opponents outnumbering strong supporters by 2-1.
The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearings on Obamacare starting next Monday.
According to an ABC News report on its poll, “Seventy percent of Americans report hearing mainly negative things about the law lately; just 19 percent say the buzz has been positive. Even among its supporters, 53 percent are hearing more negatives than positives. Among opponents this soars to 88 percent.”
“Intensity of sentiment is more negative as well: Forty-one percent strongly oppose the law, while only a quarter strongly support it,” it reported. “Opposition to the Affordable Care Act peaks in breadth and depth among Republicans, with swing-voting independents leaning their way. Sixty-three percent of Democrats support the law in general, 41 percent strongly, while three-quarters of Republicans oppose it, six in 10 strongly.”
Meanwhile, a Rasmussen survey shows the number of voters who Strongly Support the law’s repeal is now at an eight-month high.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 56% at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law, including 46% who Strongly Favor it. Thirty-nine percent (39%) oppose repeal, with 29% who are Strongly Opposed.
“Overall support for repeal is up three points from two weeks ago and is at its highest level since last September,” Rasmussen notes. “The number that Strongly Favors repealing the law is at its highest point since July of last year. Since the law’s passage, most voters have favored repeal in nearly every survey, with support running as high as 62%. Opposition to repeal has ranged from 32% to 44%.”
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“Half (49%) of all voters believe the health care law will be bad for the United States, a finding that has remained in the narrow range of 45% to 56% since March 2010. Thirty-eight percent (38%) feel the health care law will be good for the nation, while four percent (4%) say it will have no impact,” the polling firm added. “Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters now believe the health care reform legislation will increase the federal deficit, the highest finding since last June. Only 14% believe the law will decrease the deficit, while 19% say it will have no impact. Another 14% are undecided.”
“Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters say the cost of health care will go up as a result of the law, a finding that has ranged from 50% to 61% since the law’s passage. Sixteen percent (16%) think the cost of health care will go down, and 24% feel costs will stay about the same,” the firm continues. “When it comes to the quality of health care, 47% believe it will get worse under the new law, up from February’s low of 41%. Only 22% believe the quality of care will get better under the law, while 23% expect it to stay about the same. Labor union voters are almost evenly divided on the question of repeal, but 58% of those who are not in a union think the law should be repealed.”
WANT TO DEFEAT OBAMA?
Nestled within the “individual mandate” in the Obamacare act — that portion of the Act requiring every American to purchase government — approved insurance or pay a penalty — is an “abortion premium mandate.” This mandate requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion. As a result, many pro-life Americans will have to decide between a plan that violates their consciences by funding abortion, or a plan that may not meet their health needs.
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule regarding establishment of the state health care exchanges required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
As a knowledgeable pro-life source on Capitol Hill informed LifeNews, as authorized by Obamacare, “The final rule provides for taxpayer funding of insurance coverage that includes elective abortion” and the change to longstanding law prohibiting virtually all direct taxpayer funding of abortions (the Hyde Amendment) is accomplished through an accounting arrangement described in the Affordable Care Act and reiterated in the final rule issued today.
“To comply with the accounting requirement, plans will collect a $1 abortion surcharge from each premium payer,” the pro-life source informed LifeNews. “The enrollee will make two payments, $1 per month for abortion and another payment for the rest of the services covered. As described in the rule, the surcharge can only be disclosed to the enrollee at the time of enrollment. Furthermore, insurance plans may only advertise the total cost of the premiums without disclosing that enrollees will be charged a $1 per month fee to pay directly subsidize abortions.”
The pro-life advocate told LifeNews that the final HHS rule mentions, but does not address concerns about abortion coverage in “multi-state” plans administered by the Federal Government’s Office of Personell Management (OPM).
“There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act to prevent some OPM (government administered) plans from covering elective abortion, and questions remain about whether OPM multi-state plans will include elective abortion,” the pro-life source said. “If such plans do include abortion, there are concerns that the abortion coverage will even be offered in states that have prohibited abortion coverage in their state exchanges.”
The final rule indicates: “Specific standards for multi-state plans will be described in future rulemaking published by OPM…”
Set to go into effect in 2014, the unconstitutional provisions found in Section 1303 of the Obamacare Act compel enrollees in certain health plans to pay a separate abortion premium from their own pocket, without the ability to decline abortion coverage based on religious or moral objection.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on March 17-18, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone March 7-10, 2012, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including landline and cell-phone-only respondents.
