White House Seeks to Boost Public Support for Health Bill

By JANET ADAMY
WSJ

The Obama administration next week will embark on a fresh pitch for the health-care overhaul, seeking to boost public support for the law on its one-year anniversary.

But lawmakers and some policy experts say the next phase of the overhaul will be more difficult to sell. Between now and the 2012 presidential election, few consumer-oriented changes kick in. That gives the administration few tools to break a deadlock in public opinion over President Barack Obama's top domestic achievement, which he signed March 23, 2010.

With the one-year anniversary of the health-reform law on March 23, the Obama administration's top health official tells WSJ's Janet Adamy why the law remains unpopular with Americans and what benefits consumers will see from it in the coming months.

A multipronged assault led by Republicans could alter the law's contours. By next year, the Supreme Court is expected to decide the constitutionality of the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fee.

Republicans in Congress are trying to choke off funding to implement the law, though it appears increasingly unlikely that they will be able to do so in a significant way.

(More here.)