Support for Medicaid expansion dropping in Virginia

[Savannahmann]

As usual, I'll start by once again reaffirming my support for the ACA. I know anyone who posts information that is not part and parcel of the chorus of cheers of how the ACA is a huge victory, and is going to sweep Democrats into office in unprecedented numbers is always blasted as a defeatist or as wanting it to fail. That is not my opinion, and I see great danger in the election coming up. I believe the best we can hope for is to maintain control of the Senate, to fight a holding action if you will, and that should be the focus of the Democratic Party. So no, I am not calling on repeal of the ACA, and despite this declaration at the beginning, someone will inevitably claim that I am.

Now, onto the news story. I posted the first story from the Washington Post earlier about the pushback of Judges in defending the 4th Amendment against broad warrant requests. I followed a link, to another link, and then found this news story from the same paper.

The Wason Center at Christopher Newport University poll found that 53 percent of the state’s voters oppose enrolling more Virginians in the federal-state health program for the poor, a sharp reversal from February, when the center found that 56 percent backed expansion.

So what is driving this change? What is driving people into opposing the thing they voted for? The answer is not Rethugs or RW media, it's the enormity of the changes proposed. Everyone has hopped over a small puddle. They have done so thousands of times. A simple hop and you're across with feet that are not soaked. The same people will shy away if the puddle is larger than they believe they are able to cross in a single bound. Some will stride out as though ignoring the puddle, and others will leap to their limit in an effort to minimize the time getting their feet soaked. Still others will divert and try and find a way around.

That is what we're in now. People are now seeing the enormity of the puddle and know they can't leap it in a single bound. They believe that the law will cause the rates to increase, and they know it's going to cost more than advertised, everything always costs more than advertised.

So how do we turn this around? How do we once again get the majority behind the law? As we found in 2010, just telling people that they'll like it eventually is not exactly a winning strategy. My suggestion is to admit yes, we are still working out the details, and yes, we are still trying to find the perfect mix of coverage and cost, but that overall the law is good, and expanded medicare is a boon to us all.

The argument that the failure of the ACA will lead to the desired Single Payer is delusional under the best of circumstances. How many of us would return to a Doctor who had screwed up a procedure and trust them to get it right this time. No, if the ACA fails that ends the hope for Single Payer for at least a generation, and perhaps as much as fifty years. People will take a long time to forget it if the ACA fails.

Democrats should be open to modifying the law to fix things that are not perfect and continually work to make them better. That is the way of the world, we didn't stop improving the cars once Henry Ford made the Model T. Each year cars tend to have one or two improvements, ways to make them better. Computers, are another area in which improvements are always being added. So why not continue to work for the goal of making the ACA better, and be open to those discussions. It's pretty good the way it is, and it can be great, but we have to be willing to honestly look at it and figure out how to make it better.

That will help shrink the size of the puddle before us, until we are able to leap across, and then as it continues shrinking, step across it with ease.

[ProSense]

1. Seriously?

After months of debate in Richmond, opinion has become more sharply divided along partisan lines since February, when majorities of both Democrats and Republicans backed Medicaid expansion. Just 11 percent of Republicans support expansion now, down from 55 percent in the earlier poll. And 77 percent of Democrats back it, up from 58 percent in February. Among independents, 35 percent want the expansion.

So Republican support dropped 44 percent and Democratic support jumped 19 percent since the last poll?

Who conducted this poll? LOL!

States Are Running Out Of Excuses To Refuse To Expand Medicaid
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024870029

GOPer Squirms On Obamacare: 'I'm Not Saying It Hasn't Worked For Some People'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024869985

[Fred Sanders]

3. The poll is seriously flawed, the drop in Republican support is ludicrous, not statistically

possible given the other results.......the RW will do anything to skew reality.

[BrainMann1]

2. We are going through the same birth pain as when Medicare was introduced.

We will prevail. Your article speaks the truth. We need to expect this.

[JaneyVee]

4. I don't know, I'd wait for another poll.

Also, the Democrats ARE open to fixing the law where ever possible.