MSNBC, the left-wing cable network that houses President Obama's most consistent media supporters, has peddled the line that "Obamacare is working" since its troubled launch on Oct. 1, 2013.
The usual cheerleaders, including Al Sharpton and Ed Schultz as well as pundits and guests across the network, have made a humorous and defensive habit of insisting "the law is working" under an onslaught of negative news, from the website's disastrous problems, rising premiums and cancelled insurance plans that flew so much in the face of President Obama's promise that PolitiFact hit him with the 2013 "Lie of the Year."
One reason they cite: More people have insurance now. Yes, it is astonishing how many people will sign up for health insurance when it becomes a legal requirement and hefty fines are leveled against non-compliers.
Another reason liberals point to as a "success:" Health care inflation has slowed. It is beyond a stretch to attribute this to Obamacare, with potential factors including a sluggish economy resulting in less spending, or, as National Review's Reihan Salam pointed out, rising enrollment in Medicare Advantage and a strong trend by employers to offering workers high-deductible insurance policies.
Many uninsured people still passed on Obamacare because they could not afford unsubsidized premiums, Hot Air's Jazz Shaw reported. And, as The Weekly Standard reported here, for a law that has evidently been "working" since its beginning, Obama has unilaterally delayed multiple provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including "the mandate that businesses cover full-time employees, the cancellation of noncompliant plans, and cuts to Medicare Advantage."
Yet, even a year later, the president's loyal backers at MSNBC are defiant, backed by key sources like the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. Lean Forward and such.
A recent poll shows a scant 31 percent approval rating for how Obama is handling health care, with 78 percent of voters saying health care is a personally important issue. If that's "working," we'd hate to see what MSNBC considers "malfunctioning."