Posted on 05/07/2010 3:42:17 PM PDT by mdittmar
WASHINGTON — More than half of likely voters in Kentucky say the month-old, $940 billion health care overhaul should be repealed, according to a new Kentucky Poll.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents in the telephone survey said the Obama administration-backed bill should never have become law. Of that number, 53 percent say they oppose all of the law’s provisions and 11 percent say they support only a few of its proposals.
Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans surveyed said the bill should be repealed — an action advocated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — while 58 percent of Democrats said Congress should leave the bill as it is or make changes that increase government’s involvement in the health care system.
In an ominous sign for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 2 general election, nearly two-thirds of independent voters said the bill should be repealed.
“The independents are going to play a key roll in the midterm as they did in the general for Obama,” said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. “If you find a great number (of independents) not agreeing with the policies being passed ... that’s a significant problem for Democratic incumbents and candidates running in Kentucky.”
The telephone survey of 600 likely Kentucky voters was commissioned by the Lexington Herald-Leader, WKYT-TV and WAVE-TV. The poll, conducted by Research 2000 of Olney, Md. from May 2 to 4, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The poll results reflect “the feeling that there is too much government intervention” in people’s daily lives, said Del Ali, president of Research 2000.
“There are a number of people who are against it who feel what they have now isn’t the worst thing in the world and if government gets involved it’s bad,” Ali said. “They’re scared.”
Policy experts say the law will bring the most significant change in health care insurance since Medicare was created in 1965 to provide health insurance coverage for seniors and the disabled. The new laws will extend health insurance coverage to 32 million people who currently are uninsured and expand coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans.
Roughly 620,000 adults and 102,000 children in Kentucky are uninsured, according to Kaiser State Health Facts, a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Consumers will find a host of changes in how they deal with doctors, insurers and hospitals. Most people will have to obtain coverage by 2014 or face penalties. Most employers will have to offer policies by then.
Several other provisions will take effect within the next year and some Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries will get a $250 rebate this year. By fall, insurers will no longer be able to put lifetime caps on coverage, and must allow young people to remain on their parents’ policies until they turn 26. Insurers also will be barred from dropping coverage when people get sick and from refusing to cover children with pre-existing conditions.
Affluent families — those making more than $250,000 — will begin paying more taxes on wages and investments in 2013.
In Kentucky, the lone federal lawmaker voting for the bill was U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville. The state’s other Democratic congressman, Ben Chandler of Versailles, opposed the measure.
A slim majority of Kentucky’s Democrats side with Yarmuth on the issue. Fifty-six percent approve of the bill while 42 percent disapprove. Only 2 percent were unsure. Meanwhile, more than 1 in 4 Democrats say the law should be repealed.
In Kentucky’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Attorney General Jack Conway has said he would have voted for the bill while Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo has said he would have voted against it.
Overall, 44 percent of likely Democratic voters agreed with Conway’s support of the bill, while 38 percent agreed with Mongiardo’s opposition to the bill. An additional 18 percent weren’t sure.
In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, both Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul oppose the law.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has endorsed Grayson in his bid to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, advocated repealing major portions of the bill just after it was approved.
McConnell called the health care vote “a turning point in our politics and our nation” and vowed that Democrats will regret their votes for the bill come fall.
I want it repealed and everyone who voted for the unconstitutional bill removed from office.
Me too. And some Rinos who were for it before they were against it (after seeing the Town Hall voters) should be removed as well. They are stupid and dangerous.
Wait until everyone really understands the reprehensible details in the DeathCare bill. I talked to my Congressman’s office today and learned that there is a 40% excise tax on “high end” plans. As a former Benefits Administrator, I can tell you the dollar amount Pelosi et al. dictated for high-end plans isn’t that high. There are going to be millions of Americans screaming when they get their W-2s with their benefits tacked on as income.
REPEAL AND DO NOT REPLACE!
Can’t pay the doc? maybe you should have planned better and saved your money or bought health insurance. If you didn’t, then, you’d better hope the doc FREELY CHOOSES to help you at no charge because you have ZERO claim on his services as a “right.” Otherwise, your next line of defense is charity — which should be REAL charity based on donations freely made and not FORCED taxation.
When all else fails, there is nothing to keep you from treating yourself for your own ailments. Making ME pay should not be on the table.
I say leave the ultimate health care decisions where they belong: WITH GOD! You are always free to PRAY TO DOCTOR GOD for healing. God’s healing can come through direct miracles or by God’s direction to charities and health care providers to help you.
Bottom line: If you TRUST IN GOD, then you can be sure that He WILL MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION and bring you what you need/deserve when you need/deserve it — even if it isn’t what you THINK you want.
Freedom always involves risk. And yes, some people will get more than others. But that is a SMALL price to pay for LIBERTY! We need to get the government 100% OUT of health care!
In the end, free people are called to live with the consequences of their OWN ACTIONS and the judgement of ALMIGHTY GOD. Government has NO RIGHT to interfere with that process!
Yes, I WOULD rather die than receive KenyanCare. Absolutely. God has more wisdom than all the death panels put together!
bump
btt
I want everyone who voted for it in prison or dead by firing squad
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