“The Rasmussen poll appeared to conflict with a CBS News poll that found opposition to Obama’s health care law strong but waning. “Public support for President Obama’s health care reforms has increased since they were signed into law in March, a new CBS News poll shows — 43 percent of Americans now support the measures, up from 32 percent.” While last weekend’s CBS poll found the numbers closer than Rassmussen, it too found that more oppose Obama’s health care law (47 percent) than support it (43 percent).”

“Both polls may be right, however, because they surveyed different audiences. The CBS poll surveyed 1,054 “adults,” while Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 “likely voters.” A survey of adults is a raw opinion poll, but surveying “likely voters” has traditionally been a much more accurate predictor of how the American people have registered their views at the voting booth.”

full column by Thomas Eddlem @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/3627-opposition-to-obamacare-strengthens-among-voters

“This should not have been a surprise: the Congressional Budget Office had already warned that the plan would do almost nothing to reduce premium hikes. And when New York implemented the same type of insurance reforms in the 1980s, it led to an increase of nearly $500 per year for young people. But somehow, the media didn’t pay much attention.”

“And, of course, during the health care debate, no presidential speech was complete without a promise that “if you have health insurance today, and you like it, you can keep it.” But the Congressional Budget Office now says that as many as 10 million workers will lose their current insurance under Obamacare…”

Michael Tanner looks at the predicted costs of health care reform @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11738

“The whole bill is rotten, but this provision especially is a blatant violation of the Constitution. Defenders claim the Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate “interstate commerce” gives it the power to do this. However, as Judge Andrew Napolitano and other distinguished legal scholars and commentators have pointed out, even the broadest definition of “regulating interstate commerce” cannot reasonably encompass forcing Americans to engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance. Not only is it unconstitutional; it is a violation of the basic freedom to make our own decisions regarding how best to meet the health care needs of ourselves and our families.”

 Rep. Ron Paul explains his push to repeal the insurance mandate @ http://www.smallgovtimes.com/2010/04/ron-paul-on-his-end-the-mandate-push/

“President Obama is putting Romney on the spot by telling Matt Lauer that his bill is similar to Romney’s. Daniel Gross of Newsweek recommends that Obama hire Romney — someone who has management experience, no current job, and “relevant experience in implementing a large-scale health-care reform program, ideally one that involved using an individual mandate and the private insurance system to attain near-universal health insurance” — to run ObamaCare.”

David Boaz looks at the new face of big government conservatism @ http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/12/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/

“Republicans on the Subcommittee on Oversight say that this means the IRS can seize tax refunds and can audit taxpayers in order to enforce the new “individual mandate tax,” [IMT] which penalizes taxpayers if they don’t buy health insurance.”

“The IRS could get an estimated 16,500 new workers at an additional taxpayer cost of $10 billion to enforce the insurance mandate, which already faces mounting constitutional challenges, these Republicans say.”

Read more: http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/03/22/irs-gains-broader-powers-under-health-reform/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogs%2Femac+%28Blogs+-+EMac%27s+Stock+Watch%29#ixzz0kGpYcPlE

Rep. Ron Paul looks at the high cost of healthcare reform @ http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/004010.html

Shikha Dalma sees Obamacare bringing the Democrats down the way the Iraq War brought the Republicans down @ http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/09/obamacare-health-democrats-congress-opinions-columnists-shikha-dalmia.html?boxes=opinionschannelmostpopular

“Democrats will undoubtedly offer a variety of excuses for Brown’s win. The Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley, was a poor candidate. The “political climate” was bad. The dog ate their ballots. But in reality, there can be no denying that this election was a clear cut rejection of the Democratic health care bills.”

“There were no blurred differences on this issue. Scott Brown made his opposition to the bill a centerpiece of his campaign. He promised to be the 41st vote to sustain a filibuster and kill the bill, even signing autographs as “Scott41.” Coakley, on the other hand, pledged to vote for the bill.”

Michael Tanner on Massachusetts voters rejecting Obamacare @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11151

“The Senate and the House begin reconciling their versions of health care “reform” this week. But everyone—barring die-hard Obama supporters—now believes that the outcome is going to be more botched than Michael Jackson’s nose. There is a growing consensus in both the right and the left that the individual mandate provision, which is almost certain to be part of the final bill, represents a kind of neo-feudalism.”

Shikha Dalma warns of chronic political warfare if Obama’s health care reform passes @ http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/15/beware-the-obamacare-revolutio

“Right now, thanks to incentives built into the tax code, patients are locked into the health plans their employers choose. Consequently, most of us don’t have a clue what our health insurance and health care cost. We have no way to reduce those costs and no incentive to do so even if we could. Worse yet, it’s precisely when you need the system the most that it fails you. In the words of the Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt, “when you’re down on your luck, you’re unemployed, you lose your insurance.…Only the devil could ever have invented such a system.” ”

Ronald Bailey looks at what Real Healthcare Reform would look like @ http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/23/markets-not-mandates