HEALTH CARE Stirred by Sanders, Democrats shift left on law

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

More Democrats seem to be having doubts about the federal health care law, a contentious issue for most of President Barack Obama’s tenure and one of the defining elements of his legacy.

With the administration counting down its final year, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ call for “Medicare for all” appears to have rekindled aspirations for more ambitious changes beyond “Obamacare.”

That poses a challenge for Hillary Clinton, who has argued that the health-care law is working and the nation should build on it, not start over.

Two recent polls have shown an uptick in negative ratings of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and the shift seems to come from Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. For example, in the latest installment of the Kaiser Family Foundation health-care poll, the share of Democrats with unfavorable views increased by 6 percentage points.

Underlying the unease seems to be a growing conviction that the law did not do enough. About 27 million people remain uninsured, and many who gained coverage find it costly. Kaiser found that for the first time, a 51-percent majority of Democrats wants to expand what the law does, a sharp increase from the 36 percent who said so in December.

Democrats’ shifting views could make things tricky for Clinton if she’s picked as the nominee over Sanders, which appears likely. Clinton established her commitment to covering the uninsured long ago, during the losing battle for health care legislation in her husband’s administration.

Going into the 2016 primary season, she cast herself as the candidate of continuity, promising to defend Obama’s health-care accomplishments from repeal by Republicans.

Overall, Democrats still support the Obama health care law by broad margins, especially if the alternative is repealing it. But the nonpartisan polls released last week registered surprising movement.

A Pew Research Center poll found that overall, the public disapproves of the law 54 percent to 44 percent, a change from last summer when it found Americans almost evenly divided. Part of the explanation was a 12-point drop in support among Democratic-leaning independents.

Kaiser’s April tracking survey found 49 percent of Americans had an unfavorable view of the health law, with 38 percent favorable. That showed slippage from a 47-41 split in March.