4 to 1 edge in spending by ANTI-groups -----Distaste for Health Care Law Reflects Spending on Ads -

[underpants]

That success may stem in large part from more than $200 million in advertising spending by an array of conservative groups, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($27 million) to Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS ($18 million), which includes the billionaire Sheldon Adelson among its donors, and the American Action Network ($9 million), founded by Fred V. Malek, an investor and prominent Republican fund-raiser.

In all, about $235 million has been spent on ads attacking the law since its passage in March 2010, according to a recent survey by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. Only $69 million has been spent on advertising supporting it. Just $700,000 of that comes from the Obama campaign, and none of its ads mentioning the law are currently being broadcast, said Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. “It explains, in a nutshell, why polling shows attitudes about the law to be at best mixed,” she said.

“A lot of people say, ‘Don’t confuse me with the facts,’ “ Ms. Schiff said. “It’s an emotional issue.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/health/policy/health-care-law-loses-ad-war.html?pagewanted=all

[HereSince1628]

1. I think I partly understand the anxiety about mandated participation...

People feel forced to take on a new bill, but they feel uncertainty about the limit of what the insurance companies can charge.

Many folks went through this with mandated auto insurance...we were promised that as we aged and demonstrated superior driving records our insurance payment would drop...our personal prices never did. Yes, I know the argument is that the price dropped relative to the even higher prices that younger drivers now pay, and all of that has to do with the role of inflation and the cost of financing damage losses and caring for injury which sky-rocketed along with all other types of medical costs...

But...THAT is really something of the basis for the fear. The public cannot trust the government which mandates the insurance to enforce a cap on what insurance companies can charge. People expect that--whatever promises are made--there will be price increases. There is no similar mandate for pay increases. The insurance costs will be rationalized; the lack of advance in wages will be rationalized. But for individuals, their mandated health costs will increase regardless of lack of pay raises. If re-importation had been allowed for drugs it might have helped build confidence that the government would protect from price gouging...but re-importation wasn't allowed, because that would have killed the bill.

Fear is a powerful force. Fear about money is a very power force. People see the mandate as very real, they look at a medical crisis as a future possibility. Those psychological forces are easily exploited by the anti-groups against the mandate.

People see health insurance and medical costs as gouging exploitative wealth transfers. That may not be true, but that's where people's perception lie.