Posted on 11/05/2013 1:58:57 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
After two election cycles of Democrats successfully marketing Obamacare to Hispanic voters, the health care law's rocky start could turn into a bargaining chip for Republicans.
Hispanic adults have supported President Obama's Affordable Care Act at a rate twice that of whites. More than 10 million Hispanics—roughly one-fourth of the total uninsured population—stand to benefit from the law. An outsize proportion of the eligible Hispanics are the healthy millennials who could make or break universal health care.
But glitches on the enrollment site are blocking Hispanics (and everyone else) from signing up for subsidized insurance, while the Spanish-language website has been delayed until further notice. In a surprising gaffe by an administration that has put a premium on Hispanic outreach, the site geared toward Hispanics featured pictures of Asian-Americans at one point.
Add to that news of hundreds of thousands of people in states with large Hispanic populations receiving cancellation notices from insurers and Republicans see an avenue to court one of the most sought-after groups of voters in America.
"This is an opening for Republicans because Latino optimism about expanding health care is starting to wane like the rest of the population," said pollster Gabriel Sanchez, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. "The Republican strategy of hammering at the health care law could work among Latinos."
Indeed, in the first publicly released survey analyzing Obamacare's impact on Hispanics since the launch, 34 percent said health care costs will get worse under the law. The Latino Decisions poll of 300 Hispanic adults in Colorado from Oct. 14 to 18 also showed slight downturns in views of the law's impact on the quality of health care and the ability of people to get or keep insurance.
Influencing those negative views is Spanish-language media, which frequently sympathizes with the administration's goal of immigration reform but has been documenting the health care law's troubled rollout. Univision, for example, interviewed a Brooklyn bakery owner whose phone number was mistakenly listed as a contact for ACA enrollment.
A leading Hispanic Republican critic of the health care law and a potential presidential contender in 2016, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, has seized on the delay of the Spanish-language website.
"Hispanics have among the highest uninsured rates in the nation. Yet despite hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to a Spanish-language propaganda campaign, the Spanish-language Obamacare website hasn't even been launched," Rubio said in a recent statement. "It's not fair to punish anyone for not buying Obamacare when the website they are supposed to buy it on doesn't work."
Across the country, Hispanic groups have launched a massive outreach program to beat back widespread confusion about the law. That's especially critical while the Spanish-language website is down, said state Rep. Darren Soto, who represents a Hispanic-heavy district near Orlando that overwhelmingly favored Obama.
"The web site needs to be fixed sooner rather than later," Soto warned. "The outreach is critical because so many people aren't watching the news or on the Internet but you can reach them at a Puerto-Rican parade or health care fair."
In Colorado, the advocacy appears to be making a difference. The Latino Decisions poll found that 54 percent said they were very or somewhat informed about the new health care law. Less than half, 43 percent, were unable to name any of its new policies.
Democratic consultants dismiss the argument that Republicans might gain from the health law's weak rollout, pointing to the GOP-led House's resistance to immigration reform. "Republicans have less than zero credibility with Latinos," said Democratic consultant Maria Cardona, who specializes in the Hispanic vote. "As long as they get the website fixed, the stature of the Democratic Party in the Latino community will be fine."
Hispanics overwhelmingly rejected Republican nominee Mitt Romney, with more than one out of seven favoring Obama. Romney blamed Obama's friendly immigration policy and the health care law. "With Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus," Romney said last November.
But as the Republican National Committee ramps up its Hispanic outreach, Obamacare's problems will be a theme. Along with fumbling the rollout of the health care law, Obama failed to make good on his vow to pass immigration reform in his first year in office and has deported a record number of illegal immigrants, said Jennifer Korn, an RNC deputy political director.
"For the Hispanic community," she said, "Obamacare is the second major broken promise."
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This article appears in the November 5, 2013, edition of NJ Daily as Hispanics’ Love for Obamacare Waning as Site’s Troubles Persist.
Hispanics in play? Two words: fool’s errand.
Not to snark, but I’d bet 75% or more of Hispanics are gonna be on large subsidy or medicaid.
Those folks are Obamacare WINNERS.
The other group, if they didn't come here illegally, is in strong sympathy with those who have. They think of themselves as Latino first and American second, if at all. Their primary interest is in getting more free stuff from the government.
More of them vote like the second group due to decades of non-immigration law enforcement. This is the main reason the Hispanic vote has been trending Democrat because the pool of Americans which can be identified as Hispanic is increasingly diluted by said group.
Love (and by love I mean hate) how the media is so eager to keep identity politics in place that all persons of a particular race are a monolithic voting bloc to them.
If I didn’t know better I’d call it stereotyping or even (whisper it)....racism.
“..Hispanic adults have supported President Obama’s Affordable Care Act at a rate twice that of whites. More than 10 million Hispanics—roughly one-fourth of the total uninsured population—stand to benefit from the law.”
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This is news? It is the essence of the REAL PURPOSE of Obamacare, which is NOT healthcare. It is about power and control, Alinsky-Marxist style. Not news.
The article basically says they are disillusioned because their Free Sh*t Delivery did not show up as scheduled.
No way, no how should Republicans try and play in that space.
Absolutely this is racism, just like the notion that black Americans are only concerned with how much welfare they can get out of the system. Unfortunately Republicans keep buying this repugnant nonsense and playing right into the Democrats hands. If it’s a contest of how much free-government-sh*t gets handed out our side will lose every time.
If we concern ourselves primarily with making America the strongest, most free and prosperous society it can be we’ll get voters of all races. The ones we don’t get then would have voted Democrat regardless.
Not around here, and not anyone I know-
I was delighted to see that one of our Latino repubs has a commercial running on one of the Spanish-language stations I get with DirecTV-it screams about how much more Obamacare will cost a family of 4, how you will lose your present insurance, and urges the watcher to go to the website and sign a petition to delay/stop the thing.
It was shown 3 times during commercial breaks during the 1 hour novella I watch on that station. Since only those with satellite get the station, I suppose it is geared to an audience like myself, American Latinos who speak Spanish as a second language, but that is just a guess...
They'll vote in dysfunction just not that kind of dysfunction.
Agree - immigration/citizenship is their issue and we won’t ever gain them.
They will end up under the bus, and I have no sympathy-that is what they get for breaking the law and believing coyotes-especially the ones in government...
The only question which needs to be asked of Hispanics is as follows: “Is Latin the new Black?”.
no-no puedo-not as long as I can vote...
I don’t even think of hispanic when I am referring to you or some of my neighbors or kids I have known since childhood. To me, you are only American and just like any other American you claim an ancestry of hispanic or scottish or asian blood. When articles like this refer to gaining the vote of hispanics I think of the openly non english speaking people who are flooding into Texas, or have been here awhile, hiding, but now feel free to flaunt that they are demanding citizenship. Most folks I know, like you, are conservatives.
Only if they are ignorant mojados-don’t tar the sensible of us with that brush-oops-can I say that?
The stories we see on houston tv are sad but amazingly widespread. Do neighbors not see 40 people loading up from a home each morning to go out looking for work, then returning and never leaving the home alone?
And I’m all for us all getting together and doing what the feds won’t do-putting as many illegals as possible into la migra’s vans, swatting that horse on the ass and sending it on to points south...
Whenever someone mentions “Hispanic Vote” and “GOP”...it is code for supporting Illegal Alien Amnesty
That is fact
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