Democrats Claimed to be Reviving Their Healthcare Sales Pitch – Now They’re Running From it

www.NRCC.org 

Washington- Today marks the six month anniversary of ObamaCare being signed into law, but the countless promises made by President Obama and Democrats like Colleen Hanabusa still haven’t come to fruition. Democrats promised their government healthcare takeover would provide economic benefits to the American public, but evidence continues to stack up against their claims. Recent news has shown that the Democrats’ healthcare takeover continues to grow more unpopular among the American public as it stunts job growth, imposes even more new taxes, and strips working families of their existing healthcare coverage. While the White House once claimed to be campaigning on ObamaCare, it now appears that Democrats like Hanabusa are running away from the healthcare takeover that they once supported.

“President Obama promised the world as he delivered his sales pitch for his party’s healthcare takeover, but the past six months have brought little good news for Democrats like Colleen Hanabusa who backed ObamaCare,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Hanabusa supported a trillion dollar government takeover of healthcare against the best interests of her constituents – and now, she’s running away from it. While the White House once claimed to be ‘selling’ their healthcare agenda on the campaign front, middle-class families in Hawaii have been left wondering for the past six months – how much more taxpayer money will be wasted on the partisan spending agenda of Democrats in Washington?”

The White House and allies claimed to be reviving the campaign to ‘sell’ the healthcare takeover to the American public:

“President Obama and his allies, concerned about deep skepticism over his landmark health care overhaul, are orchestrating an elaborate campaign to sell the public on the law, including a new tax-exempt group that will spend millions of dollars on advertising to beat back attacks on the measure and Democrats who voted for it.” (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “White House and Allies Set to Build Up Health Law, New York Times, 06/06/10)

"The extraordinary campaign, which could provide an unprecedented amount of cover for a White House in a policy debate, reflects urgency among Democrats to explain, defend and depoliticize health reform now that people are beginning to feel the new law's effects…President Barack Obama on Tuesday will kick off a series of high-profile health-reform events heading into the November election. The job will continue as long as he is president, since the biggest provisions — including the requirement that individuals carry health insurance — don't kick in until 2014." (Mike Allen, "Dems Launch $125M Health Campaign," Politico, 06/07/10)

However, six months later, the same Democrats that supported the government healthcare takeover are running away from it, as their messaging continues to fall flat and evidence shows the negative implications of ObamaCare are far more serious than originally predicted:

Dems Wave the White Flag on Their Unpopular Healthcare Law as Their Messaging Falls Flat: “Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit, and instead stressing a promise to ‘improve it.’…The confidential presentation, available in full here and provided to POLITICO by a source on the call, suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled.” (Ben Smith, “New Dem message: 'Improve' health care, don't talk cost,” Politico, 08/19/10)

Americans Still Not Buying ObamaCare Sales Pitch as Approval Sinks to 43 Percent: “A new poll shows that public support for health care reform dropped sharply in August – a dagger in Democrats’ hopes that their landmark legislation will help them in November’s midterm. The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll has support for the bill dropping seven percentage points in August – down to 43 percent – while opposition rose 10 points to 45 percent. That’s the weakest showing since May – and a far cry from the bump proponents had hoped to see as some of the law’s more consumer-friendly provisions kick in. Democrats said throughout the year-long debate on Capitol Hill that support for the overhaul would increase once the bill passed and Americans were able to take advantage of some of its benefits.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Public Sours on Health Care Reform,” Politico, 8/31/10)

ObamaCare Will Cause Nation’s Healthcare Tab to Continue to Rise: “The nation's health care tab will go up — not down — as a result of President Barack Obama's sweeping overhaul… For critics, the numbers show that the law didn't solve the cost problem, although Obama repeatedly said he wanted to bend the spending curve down. The analysis found that health care spending will grow to nearly 20 percent of the economy in 2019.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Gov't: Spending to rise under health care overhaul,” Associated Press, 09/09/10)

Poll: Americans Still Confused By Dems’ Healthcare Overhaul Six Months Later: “The uncertainty and confusion amount to a dismal verdict for the Obama administration's campaign to win over public opinion. Before the final votes in Congress, Obama personally assured wavering Democrats he'd take the case to the American people after the law passed. But it hasn't worked. And in the final stretch before the midterm elections Republicans are united by their call for repeal.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Trevor Tompson, “AP Poll: Health care law making us muddle-minded,” Associated Press, 09/21/10)

###