In a reversal not seen since Springfield decided they loved the Burlesque House, poll numbers on the health care bill have just about flipped since its passage, with a small edge favoring the bill.
Those numbers will likely go up in the next few months. Americans are overwhelmingly satisfied with their own health care, and most of the provisions of the health care legislation will roll out slowly over the next decade. President Obama’s oh-so-Presidential taunts about health care overhaul – calling on Republicans to “look around” in “two months, six months” – are backed up by the fact that very little will happen in that time.
More evidence that “repeal the deal” would be a loser as a political slogan this November. But what if the slogan was “finish the job”?
Buried in the bill (and this story on CNN) are limitations on Flex Spending Accounts – personal savings accounts people can use to save money for their own health care. Along with silly items like taxes on tanning beds and regulations on the McDonald’s dollar menu, there are plenty of gaps in the program administered by our new health overlords. Why not attack those in the name of making people healthier?
Framing real health reform this way is a winner – after all, as the polls show, America loves to back the winning horse.
Jim Eltringham 