Rasmussen on Health Care

A full 57% believe ObamaCare will hurt the economy according to the latest Rasmussen Survey.  Would that this were the worst of the news for ObamaCare, it seems that voters distrust nearly every aspect of the proposal:

• Two-out-of-three voters (66%) also believe the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats is likely to increase the federal deficit. That’s up six points from late November and comparable to findings just after the contentious August congressional recess. 
• Underlying this concern is a lack of trust in the government numbers. Eighty-one percent (81%) believe it is at least somewhat likely that the health care reform plan will cost more than official estimates.
• Seventy-eight percent (78%) also believe it is at least somewhat likely that taxes will have to be raised on the middle class to cover the cost of health care reform. 
• 59% of voters think cost is the greatest issue in health care.  There is a disparity in opinion amongst the political class and mainstream voters as to the major issues in health care.  60% of the political class believes universal coverage is the main problem while 61% of mainstream believe cost is the biggest problem.
• Ninety-three percent (93%) of Republicans and 71% of unaffiliated voters say the health plan being considered by Congress is likely to increase the federal budget deficit.
• Sixty percent (60%) of voters believe Democrats should change the bill to win support from a reasonable number of Republicans. Only 31% believe Democrats should go ahead and pass the bill without Republican support.

There seems to be a bipartisan belief that costs will exceed government projections. Ed Morrissey elaborates:

Hardly anyone believes the cost estimates. When asked whether the bill would exceed its cost estimates, 93% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats, and 80% of independents thought it at least somewhat likely — with 88% of Republicans and 73% of independents calling it “very likely.” Only 20% of Democrats thought it unlikely. Again, this looks like a big failure of the Obama administration’s efforts to sell the package as a cost containment program.

 When the vast majority of Democrats find the cost estimates suspect, it is safe to say this should not be the focus of any health care sales pitch.  There are far too many years of history disproving the notion that government programs live within their means.  That is a task left for mere mortals, though some politicians seem to not know the limits of their political capital.  President Obama has spent his and then some.

H/T:Hot Air