1. A new CBS News/ New York Times poll found that only 24% of the American people want the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare.
68% want the court to either void the entire law or, at least, the provision requiring everyone to purchase private health insurance.
Even among Democrats, only 42% want the court to OK Obamacare with 48% hoping at least part of it will be declared unconstitutional
Among Republicans, a tiny 6% want the whole law to pass muster with the Court, while 87% think at least part of it should be thrown out.
20% of independents are pulling for Obamacare's constitutionality, but 72% think at least part of it should be nixed.
In light of the public's overwhelming opposition to Obamacare, it is surprising that a recent Rasmussen poll found the two political parties are essentially tied on the question of which is trusted more on health care. 44% said Republicans, 43% said Democrats.
2. Despite a veto threat from the President, the House voted 270-146 to repeal the 2.3% Obamacare tax on medical devices.
233 Republicans and 37 Democrats voted for HR 436, to repeal the medical devices tax. No Republicans voted against it, but 146 Democrats voted "nay." Eight Republicans and seven Democrats didn't vote.
Republicans said the tax on things like pacemakers and CT scan machines would be passed along to patients and would drive up health care costs. GOP legislators also said the tax would eliminate about 43,000 jobs and discourage startup companies that develop new products, some of which could be life-saving.
Lauding the passage of HR 436, Speaker John Boehner (pictured with President Obama) said, "The president's health care law is raising costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers. This bill not only stops a devastating new tax that is already forcing American job creators to ship work overseas, it makes common-sense reforms to help reduce health care costs for families and allow them to keep more of their hard-earned dollars."
The bill now goes to the Senate, where Democrats, who are in the majority, indicated it would not even be considered.
Altogether, the House has passed 30 bills so far during the 112th Congress to repeal or partially dismantle Obamacare.
3. The National Journal reports that many seniors are skipping the "free" checkup that is provided in Obamacare to all new Medicare recipients.
The study in Health Affairs found that those seniors who did not take advantage of the checkup suffered no ill effects and were, in fact, "less likely to have chronic diseases."
The advocates of Obamacare have tried hard to convince seniors of the value to this benefit.
Last week's issue of What's Happening with Conservatives and the Tea Party: The real reason Governor Scott Walker won--and MORE!
Previous issues of the What's Happening with Seniors Benefits newsletters.
Follow Art Kelly on Twitter @ArthurKellyJr
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer
