"I think fundamentals were trumped by mechanics and, to a lesser extent, by demographics."

Daddy, Why Do They Hate Obamacare? by Jared Bernstein

Are you reading Ed Porter’s Economic Scene columns over at the NYT? Because you should be—they’re consistently well-crafted, muscular, reality-based, topical arguments on econ current events.

In today’s column, Porter takes a closer look at a point that you frequently hear these days: why does the extreme right hate Obamacare so much? As I noted the other day, I’ve lately run into people asking me that same question, including my 14 year-old (imagine being a kid trying to make sense of the grown-ups’ world right now…ugh).

A common, and correct, answer to this is that the law expands the scope of government, and once it’s in effect, its beneficiaries will like the security it provides them and their families, making it harder to destroy. Porter adds another important angle to this analysis, by considering more closely who the law will help most and why that matters.

That is, while the Medicaid expansions (in the states that accepted them) clearly target the poor, the subsidies that will make coverage more affordable for those without insurance through their jobs target the broad middle class. And that’s a group that a) has seen persistently negative wage and income trends, b) is the target of few social benefits (e.g., they’re ineligible for Medicaid), and c) is a critical voting bloc.