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Polls Continue to Reinforce Affordable Care Act is unfair

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has always been a hot button issue, but two polls in the past month show just how unpopular the law has become.

According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 44 percent of Americans felt the health care law was a bad idea, compared to 31 percent who felt it was a good idea. Even more telling: By a two to one margin, poll respondents felt the president’s health care law would have a negative effect on the country’s health care system, and nearly three times as many people think it is more likely to hurt their families than to help.

A Fox News poll told a similar story. Sixty-eight percent of registered voters nationwide – including 56 percent of Democrats – are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act will affect their personal health care. It does not come as much of a surprise, then, that 54 percent of voters want the law scrapped entirely and to go back to the health care system in place prior to PPACA. The poll also found that just 38 percent of voters approve of the way President Obama is handling health care.

Part of the reason the law, and President Obama’s handling of the situation, is unpopular is that it treats various groups of people differently. Provisions like the HIT single out small businesses and individuals for a tax increase, while exemptions to the law seem to be handed out to special-interest groups that make the a lot of noise or are favorites of the administration.

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) raised the fairness issue during an interview with a Milwaukee television station.

“[President Obama] delayed [PPACA] for big businesses for a year, why not give the same kind of relief for small businesses and families, for individuals?” Ryan asked. “That’s our point.”

Unfortunately, small businesses are faced with a “Ready or not, here it comes!” scenario. Despite evidence of the negative effect the Affordable Care Act and HIT will have on small businesses, unless something is done soon millions of Americans will see their health care costs increase significantly. Contact your Member of Congress today to tell them to Stop the HIT.