More Americans disapprove of Obamacare than those who favor it, 43 percent to 41 percent, although the gap between those camps has narrowed to its closet margin in over two years, according to a March tracking poll released Thursday.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy organization, said daylight between both opinions dimmed among all the parties, although 74 percent of Republicans still view the Affordable Care Act negatively and 65 percent of Democrats view it positively.
A majority of the public — 57 percent — said the law has not impacted them directly, and nearly equal amounts said the law had helped them (19 percent) rather than hurt them (22 percent).
Five years into the Obamacare era, the law is still an “unmitigated disaster” despite the rosier outlook offered by the administration, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said Thursday at the outset of a hearing on the 2010 overhaul.
His staunch opposition to the law reflects ongoing attempts by the Republican-majority Congress to scrap President Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
Their latest bid focuses on an arcane budget procedure known as “reconciliation,” which would allow GOP lawmakers from both chambers to come together and pass sweeping changes without fear of a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
Both chambers will have to pass budget resolutions to even get to that point.
But Mr. Obama still wields a veto, and Democrats say the GOP is disregarding the 16 million Americans who’ve gained coverage since Obamacare’s main provisions took root.
In response, Mr. Hatch said the administration is “cherry-picking” data points to boost its law.
“What they don’t talk about are the still-skyrocketing health care costs that are hitting families across this country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will decide by June if the administration is unlawfully paying Obamacare’s subsidies to customers in states that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov exchange.
The law says subsidies can be paid to customers in exchanges “established by the state,” which challengers interpret as the exchanges set up by only a handful of states.
If the justices strikes down the subsidies, it would blow a hole in the law in 34 states and open the door to GOP-led health reforms.
Kaiser said a majority of Americans, 53 percent, haven’t heard about the case, known as King v. Burwell, and a quarter said they’d heard a “only a little” about it.
About two in 10 respondents said they’d heard at least something about the case.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.