Ted Cruz asks Facebook friends about Obamacare, finds out they like it

[AllPurposeAtheist]

But of course it's a liberal plot to undermine Teds credibility.

Back on March 24, Cruz posted an informal survey on his verified senatorial Facebook page. It read: "Quick poll: Obamacare was signed into law four years ago yesterday. Are you better off now than you were then? Comment with YES or NO!"

It's probably fair to say that he didn't expect the tsunami of "YES" votes that have shown up on the page among the 47,000 that Facebook says have been posted.

Respondents have listed, among other things, their newfound ability to obtain coverage despite preexisting medical conditions, the right of young adults to stay on their parents' policies to age 26, lower premiums and the end of lifetime benefit limits.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-ted-cruz-20140331,0,6549069.story#axzz2xZSHylyr%5C

[Shol'va]

Communist lies

[Johan]

One of the pitfalls of believing your own bullshit is that you tend to assume everyone else believes it too.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Confirmation Bias, I'd like to introduce Error Of Small Samples."

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The thing is if only 5 people had ever visited his fb site and said no he would tout it as overwhelming evidence

[Mandingo]

he didn't expect the tsunami of "YES" votes that have shown up on the page among the 47,000 that Facebook says have been posted

Your source doesn't mention hard numbers or percentages of yay- or nay-sayers?

[SGOS]

From what I understand half of Americans like Obamacare, or maybe slightly less than half.  If one asks for an opinion in a public forum, he should expect that half or slightly less than half of the respondents will approve.  I assume he understands how polls generally reflect opinions.  I think he was just trying to keep the controversy alive.  Politicians thrive on controversy.

[Mermaid]

From what I understand half of Americans like Obamacare, or maybe slightly less than half.  If one asks for an opinion in a public forum, he should expect that half or slightly less than half of the respondents will approve.  I assume he understands how polls generally reflect opinions.  I think he was just trying to keep the controversy alive.  Politicians thrive on controversy.

I think it's more like half the Americans say they like it, half don't. But in truth, nobody knows how it will wash, it's mostly opinion and conjecture at this point.

[Hydra009]

"Confirmation Bias, I'd like to introduce Error Of Small Samples."

And selection bias to boot.  People "friending" Ted Cruz are highly unlikely to be fans of Obama.

[RobbyPants]

"Confirmation Bias, I'd like to introduce Error Of Small Samples."

False concensus effect, too.

[SGOS]

I think it's more like half the Americans say they like it, half don't. But in truth, nobody knows how it will wash, it's mostly opinion and conjecture at this point.

Yes, there have been lots of surprises that have caught nearly everyone off guard, including the politicians who passed it, and there are still too many long term unknowns to know how public is going to accept it once all of its ramifications are understood.

[Mandingo]

I think it's more like half the Americans say they like it, half don't. But in truth, nobody knows how it will wash, it's mostly opinion and conjecture at this point.

Look at other countries that have had similar systems in place for their populations for over half a century, and learn instead of pig-headedly reinventing the wheel.

[SGOS]

Look at other countries that have had similar systems in place for their populations for over half a century, and learn instead of pig-headedly reinventing the wheel.

I had the same thought when it became clear (quite early on) that single payer was not going to be part of Obamacare.  I wouldn't have necessarily said "pig-headedly", but I did have the impression that the US could be sold just about any piece of mediocre legislation as long as it could not easily be targeted as "socialism".  When it became accepted that healthcare would eventually be politically unavoidable, almost everyone expected single payer like other western democracies.  But No, No, the US was too good for that.  So we got Obamacare, but now, even that has been down graded from what people were expecting as Obamacare.

Some people saw Obamacare as a baby step toward healthcare, but I think it was just a way to avoid healthcare for as long as possible.  As a result, I think it will be more difficult to catch up to other countries.

[aileron]

Some people saw Obamacare as a baby step toward healthcare, but I think it was just a way to avoid healthcare for as long as possible.  As a result, I think it will be more difficult to catch up to other countries.

It's not a baby step at all.  The US developed a custom of employer-sponsored healthcare through historical accident.  The employers don't like it because they can't share risk and the administrative costs are high.  The employees don't like it because it can potentially lock them into their current employer or discourage self-employment opportunities.  Yet once such a system is in place it's got enormous inertia.  Obamacare isn't a particularly good solution, but it was one of the few ways to break the custom of employer sponsored healthcare.

Most employers are taking a wait and see attitude.  There's no sense risking employee flight during the transition or if it turns to crap.  If the exchanges work out though, one by one employers will start dropping their plans and giving money to their employees to buy from a public exchange.  In cases where there's no risk of employee flight such as medical for retirees, some big companies have already announced that all their US retirees with healthcare benefits will be going on Obamacare.   

[SGOS]

Obamacare isn't a particularly good solution, but it was one of the few ways to break the custom of employer sponsored healthcare.

If the exchanges work out though, one by one employers will start dropping their plans and giving money to their employees to buy from a public exchange.

The whole thing started back when health insurance wasn't so expensive.  I can understand why companies want to get out of it now.  Many people are already covered through work, so they don't even think about how expensive going off on their own will be. 

I retired early, but I could continue my group coverage out of my own pocket until I qualified for Medicare.  It represented my single biggest monthly expenditure, and in comparison to other employer provided plans, it  wasn't that good to begin with.  I considered buying some catastrophic coverage with absurd deductibles instead, but without any collective bargaining power, it would have cost me even more than my lackluster group insurance.

I do expect companies to quit providing insurance, and the delay in requiring them to provide it under Obamacare seems to be setting up such a scenario.  I'm wondering what people are going to think when they realize it's going to be between just them and the insurance companies.  I suspect it's not going to make millions of previously covered people very happy. 

Perhaps Washington's inertia will have set in by then, or it might set the stage for a single payer revolution.  But I'm also afraid that corporate America will have much greater influence over Washington by that time and regular people will have less power than they do now.