Poll: Half of independents would be happy if Supreme Court throws out health care law

CBS/iStockphoto

(CBS News) Half of independents -- the voters likely to decide the 2012 election -- would be happy if the Supreme Court this month decides to throw out President Obama's health care law in its entirety, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. Slightly fewer independents, 44 percent, said they would be unhappy with that outcome.

The rest of the country, according to the poll, will be unhappy no matter what the outcome of the case. The Supreme Court heard arguments in March over the law's constitutionality and is expected to hand down a ruling by the end of this month. It could choose to uphold the law, reject the entire package or reject parts of it, including the requirement for all Americans to purchase insurance.

When presented with each of those three scenarios, Americans overall were more likely to say they'd be unhappy with the outcome than happy with it. For instance, 48 percent of Americans overall said they would be unhappy if the court threw out the entire law, while just 44 percent would be happy about it.

Not surprisingly, the responses were partisan. Three quarters of Republicans said they would be happy if the court threw out the entire law, and 80 percent said they'd be unhappy to see the court uphold the law. Among Democrats, 62 percent said they'd be happy if the court upheld the law, while 74 percent said they would be unhappy to have the whole law rejected.

While independents would be happier in general to have the whole law thrown out, just 44 percent said they would be happy if just the mandate were thrown out (compared to 49 percent who would be unhappy). Just 35 percent of independents said they'd be happy if the law were upheld.

The decision to throw out just the individual mandate is unpopular with both Democrats and Republicans, as well as independents. Last week, Republican Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska said that the court should either uphold the law or reject it in its entirety -- to do otherwise would create too much uncertainty, he said.

[Tjd717leech]

As a former life-long Democrat (age 50) who beacame a registered Independent in 2009, I stronly oppose the President's health care mandate because it would threaten religious liberty. Politically, I'm moderate (oppose abortion, gay marriage, capital punishment, but favor gun control, war only as a last resort, and aid to the poor, disabled and elderly without creating a culture of dependency). One out of six Americans receive healthcare from Catholic hospitals (source: 6/16 AP report). Only misery would result if the mandate passed.

[BlueDogDem]

Could you please explain why you believe that I should be forced to pay for your medical bills because you "choose" not to buy health insurance coverage for yourself?

[raptor-022]

RealiteBites June 19, 2012 2:16 AM EDT
"Everybody keeps blaming the Supreme Court, but it's really the fault of whoever thought a mandate was the best way to go"



Health-care provision at center of Supreme Court debate was a Republican idea

The individual insurance mandate, which requires virtually all Americans to obtain health coverage or pay a fine, was the brainchild of conservative economists and embraced by some of the nation's most prominent Republicans for nearly two decades.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/health-care-provision-at-center-of-supreme-court-debate-was-a-republican-idea/2012/03/25/gIQAoCHocS_story.html

[raptor-022]

Mandate To Buy Coverage: Health Insurance Industry's Idea, Not Obama's

The idea was pushed early in the debate by America's Health Insurance Plans perhaps like no other health care lobby in Washington. AHIP, as it is known, includes the biggest names in health insurance such as UnitedHealth Group (UNH); Humana Inc. (HUM); Aetna Inc. (AET) and Cigna Corp. (CI) along with most big Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2012/06/17/mandate-to-buy-coverage-health-insurance-industrys-idea-not-obamas/

[marychgo]

Three years of Republican lies are the REASON why independents think they don't want healthcare reform. When you HAVE a job and HAVE employer-subsidized healthcare, it's easy to say "I don't care about 50 million Americans who don't have and can't afford health care." What independents DON'T understand is that they could join that 50 million tomorrow.

What polls like this NEVER point out is that roughly HALF of anti-health reform independents hate the Obama health care reform law because they don't want to do ANYTHING about uninsured Americans, and another HALF of the anti-health reform independents hate the Obama health care reform law because they want Medicare-for-all: which the OTHER half would consider a totally socialistic solution.

[MurdochSucks]

Amen, sister! I completely agree. The TPs are excited because they think people who oppose the bill are anti-Obama. I support Obama's re-election, especially given the alternative, yet, I am appalled that he bent over backwards, stripped bargaining power by nixing the public option, and gave the Republicans a free-market, privatized "solution" that they would have only been ecstatic to achieve. If we all embrace Medicare (nobody speaks of eliminating this costly program) for our most needy citizens (elderly use a lot of insurance claims for medicine, health care, etc.), why are we so uncomfortable with extending it to all citizens, and therefore reducing the per capita cost of service? Distribute the expenses across the entire population and Medicare would be a very sensible way to reduce costs, and the government could negotiate with private practitioners, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals. Yes, there would not be the unregulated gold rush they have now, but that's the problem and the cause of skyrocketing costs. They are price-gouging and profiteering. On top of that subsidize doctors/nurses education and all of a sudden the doctors and hospitals don't have to charge so much to cover student loans. Voila! You have a working, healthy system. Yes, it is a socialist system, but why is that so bad? It works for the rest of the civilized world, why can't we make a good system work?

[frankcoins]

No one HAS to buy insurance. But if you don't, you have to pay an extra tax to compensate the taxpayers who have to pay your medical bills when you show up at the emergency room of your local taxpayer funded hospital. You would think all these "taxed-enough-already" people would support health care. The concept was created by the Republicans during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the "personal responsibilty" concept..you know, if an unmarried black woman is having a baby a year costing the taxpayers $5000 a pop, make her buy insurance!

[democracy8]

I've had many tens of thousands of dollars deducted from my paycheck over my working life to go toward the premiums of my (supposed) "employer-based" insurance. For roughly 30 years, I rarely used it, so that money essentially went down the drain. I've never been afraid of hard work or long hours--in fact for many years, my commute alone was over 5 hours every day, and in other years I put in up to 70 hrs a week. I became unemployed last year for the first time in my life. I've been looking, but nothing so far.

I fell down my basement stairs trying to carry something heavy and broke my hip last November. Had to crawl up the stairs and then 40 feet to the couch. Didn't have a cell phone at the time. I was on the couch 2-1/2 days before I was able to get down and crawl about 70 feet to the phone and then to the front door. I qualified for Medicaid due to my unemployment (but don't forget that that was ALSO deducted from my paycheck for decades). Even with Medicaid and all that money that I paid over the years for virtually no claims, I still owe over $14,000. The current system is a scam.

[democracy8]

mach1ponie: Yep, talk about "death panels"...

[RealiteBites]

I knew Barack wasn't the person he said he was when his health care bill relied on a mandate.

A Con Law 'scholar' who didn't think a mandate would be an issue ... when the principle of limited government is the central tenet of the Constitution????????????????????

Everybody keeps blaming the Supreme Court, but it's really the fault of whoever thought a mandate was the best way to go because it avoided using the word 'tax'. All Congress had to do was levy a tax, and the thing would have been perfectly Constitutional.

What a waste of an opportunity to move the ball forward - it's really so unfortunate in that it didn't have to happen :/

[davidd5063]

Let's look specifically at the party that:
1) Passed an overly generous presciption drug benefit for retirees, that NEVER existed before, PAID FOR ENTIRELY IN DEFICIT SPENDING
2) Suggested we cut Medicaid and food stamps for CHILDREN rather than repeal their GIVEAWAY to retirees to buy their votes
3) Attacked the ACA as socialism and has never been willing to acknowledge that it offers a much more equitable solution to the Medicare crisis than STEALING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF EVERYONE UNDER 55
4) Claimed the $500B in cost savings and cuts to the Medicare ADVANTAGE program (used by only a small percetage of wealthy retirees) were actually cuts to Medicare itself
5) Refused to even discuss the 15% dividends tax giveaway for fear of upsetting their Retirees
Pretending the GOP isn't engaged in GENERATIONAL WARFARE that is both illegal and unconstitutional in that it uses the GOVERNMENT TO TRANSFER WEALTH FROM THE YOUNG TO THE OLD! Come on pollsters, did it never occur to ask if the person is working or retireed?

[davidd5063]

See CBS, what's I'd really like you to point out is that the GOP is BUYING the votes of Retirees just once since you regularly repeat the FALSE ASSERTION that Dems are buying the votes of welfare recipients.

[davidd5063]

Oh, and then let's look at the percentage of people opposed to the ACA already on Medicare and who own stock in a HEALTH INSURANCE company so they can take advantage of the "sweet dividends". Simply put, I'd like to know the percentage of people for WHOM I'm NOT ALREADY paying for Medicare and for WHOM I'm NOT already paying REDICULOUS profits to that are actually opposed to the law. Don't want to upset your retirees do you MSM?

[davidd5063]

Don't tell me about GOP vs. Dem vs. "Independent". Tell me what percentage of people already receiving MEDICARE OR MEDICAID want the law thrown out vs. the percentage of people actually AFFECTED by the law - you know those of us who actually PURCHASE health insurance on the "free market". Quit trying to hide the fact that the VAST MAJORITY of those opposed to the ACA are already on MEDICARE!