Polls offer mixed views of Americans' views on health law, repeal

Varying polls offer slightly different takes on where the American public stands regarding the health overhaul, its impact on the economy and whether it should be undone. Democrats are stepping up to try to sway these opinions. Meanwhile, a vocal physician organization has stepped into the fray in opposition of the overhaul.

The Washington Post: More Americans Oppose Health-Care Law, But Few Want A Total Repeal
Republican claims that the new health care law will hurt the country's fragile economic recovery and inflate the deficit resonate with the public, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But few opponents of the law advocate an immediate, wholesale repeal of the legislation (Cohen, 1/18).

CQ HealthBeat: Blendon Sees No Consensus on Health Law as Repeal Vote Nears
A new Associated Press-GfK poll suggested a new narrative in mainstream press coverage of the law — that raw feelings against the law are abating. But a Quinnipiac University poll released several hours before the start of the House debate on repealing the law didn't quite fit that story line: It found that American voters by a margin of 48 to 43 percent favor repeal (Reichard, 1/18).

Modern Healthcare: Democrats Press GOP For Public Hearings
As members of the U.S. House of Representatives debated Tuesday on whether to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, House Democrats chided their Republican counterparts for not holding public hearings to discuss the repeal bill they plan to vote on Wednesday (Zigmond, 1/18).

The New York Times: Vocal Physicians Group Renews Health Law Fight
A small professional group of doctors involved in the effort to repeal the new health care law has a history of opposing government involvement in medicine, including challenging President Bill Clinton's attempts to overhaul health care in the 1990s (Meier, 1/18).