A year ago yesterday, Democrats who ran the House of Representatives had just jammed through the first part of their unpopular health care bill on a party line vote, just as they had a few months earlier in the Senate. At the time, the Chicago Tribune editorialized, “Democratic leaders in Congress got what they wanted Sunday night: House passage of a massive health bill the Senate approved on Christmas Eve. . . . This legislation has cleaved America, and whatever happens next, the Democrats own it. No major entitlement program has become law in such partisan fashion. . . . Sunday night’s voting in the House, like that Dec. 24 action in the Senate, had Democrats unilaterally in charge — and voting against the wishes of a majority of Americans.”

Little has changed about public opinion over the past year. According to a new Gallup survey, “Most Americans are skeptical that the law will improve medical care in the U.S. or their own personal medical care. . . . Well less than half of Americans believe the law will make medical care better either for the United States as a whole, or for them personally. In both regards, more believe the law will make things worse rather than better.” A plurality, 44%, think the Democrats’ health care bill will worsen medical care in the U.S. Gallup also writes, “Americans are less positive about the impact of the healthcare reform law on their own medical care. Twenty-five percent say the law will improve their medical care, 39% say it will worsen it, and 31% say it will not make any difference.”

On top of that, according to the Gallup poll a majority of independents, 51%, still say it was a “bad thing” Democrats passed their 2,700 page health care law.

Further, Americans continue to disapprove of how President Obama is handling health care. A CNN poll taken in the last few days finds only 41% approve of the president’s handling of the issue.

Meanwhile, even former supporters of the bill are expressing new reservations as more and more is understood about the burdensome regulations contained in it. Politico reports, “Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz says the health overhaul law’s employer requirements will impose ‘too great’ a pressure on small businesses. Schultz supported the law as he watched his company’s health insurance tab — $250 million as of last year — surmount its coffee bill. But he told The Seattle Times in an interview published Tuesday that he’s now worried about what happens when it takes full effect in 2014: . . . ‘I think as the bill is currently written and if it was going to land in 2014 under the current guidelines, the pressure on small businesses, because of the mandate, is too great.’”

The National Federation of Independent Business has long been concerned with the law’s impact in small businesses. In January, the NFIB wrote to Congress, “Our small business owners remain deeply concerned that the healthcare law costs too much and further jeopardizes the economic recovery of our nation’s job creators. If new taxes, new mandates and new government programs in [the health care bill] remain intact the law will stifle the ability to hire, grow and invest—key components that are necessary to move America’s economy forward in a robust and meaningful way. Simply put, Congress must repeal [the law] immediately.”

Related:

Washington Times: GRAVES: Small Business isn’t Celebrating Obamacare

Rasmussen Reports: 19% Say Hardly Anybody Believes More Government Spending Is Good for the Economy

The Mother of all ObamaCare Lies

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