ObamaCare in More Trouble Than You Might Think

by DAN RIEHL

Selling the American people on ObamaCare was always going to be a big challenge. That's why it was passed all but in the middle of the night. Now, with the number of people who say they will opt out of ObamaCare and pay the fine instead growing - the selling of ObamaCare is only going to become more difficult, not less. 

That could easily have major ramifications to the success of the program overall.

Obstacles to its success have only grown in recent days and the fight is far from over. According to Gallup, more people than ever are now saying they will pay the fine, as opposed to enrolling.

… A key to making the Affordable Care Act work as designed is for all Americans to carry health insurance. To ensure this happens, the law stipulates that Americans are subject to fines if they do not have health insurance. When Gallup reminds uninsured Americans of this requirement and asks what they are most likely to do, 56% say they plan to get insurance, while 34% say they are more likely to pay the fine.

In September, Gallup found a slightly larger margin in favor of getting insurance than is the case now, 65% to 25%.

Not only that, but the number of people even fully aware of the program continues to remain low. 

Seven in 10 not familiar with exchanges, unchanged since September

That's part of the reason why you are seeing panic like this below from sites like the Huffington Post. The train wreck that has been the ObamaCare launch all but assures that the first time many people really learn anything solid about ObamaCare now, is going to be because of bad news and negative headlines.

Obamacare Website Failure Threatens Health Coverage For Millions Of Americans

Add that to the challenge of selling skeptical Americans on a program that was always going to be difficult to sell because health care is such a personal issue, and it significantly increases the complexity of that task. In short, opponents have a genuine window of opportunity to damage ObamaCare, perhaps beyond repair in the public's mind, if they can come together and oppose it intelligently, consistently and together as one.