WASHINGTON—With the Obama administration counting down its final year, many Democrats are finding less to like about the president’s health care law, unsure about its place among their party’s achievements.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ call for “Medicare for all” seems to have rekindled aspirations for bigger 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 shifting sentiments seem 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 go far 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.
The health care law was a good start “but it doesn’t do all the things we need to have done,” said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.
“I think frankly Bernie’s campaign has stirred it up,” he added. A longtime advocate of coverage for all, McDermott is supporting Clinton.
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.
