AARP Poll Shows Big Majority Want Government Health Care
August 26th, 200986 Percent Want Universal Coverage
79 Percent Want Government Option
Despite the carefully contrived optics — the cell-phone videos of deranged Tea-Baggers, Birthers and Deathers disrupting town hall meetings; the armed “right wing terrorists” posing menacingly outside the meeting halls; and signs depicting Pres. Obama as Hitler — and in spite of Republican propaganda about death panels and the rest, a new poll finds that huge majorities of American voters of all ages* remain solidly behind the Democrats’ two primary goals for health-insurance reform: insuring everyone and offering the public access to the same coverage available to elected officials, federal employees, the military and veterans:
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support a federal health insurance plan for those who can’t afford or can’t get private insurance, but only 37 percent define “public option” correctly, a new national poll found.
The majority of people polled — 86 percent — say insurance should be available to everyone regardless of health history, and 79 percent say they believe a federal government health insurance option should be available for people to buy.
The survey was paid for by AARP but the survey group of 1,000 Democratic, Republican and independent voters was not limited to AARP members. The age range of those polled was 61 percent 49 years old and younger, and 39 percent 50 years old and older.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Republicans have ginned up their base to the point that extremists are ready to go to war — to soak the roots of the tree of liberty with the blood of government officials and themselves — in order to preserve trillions of dollars in profits for health plans.
It is likely that most of those who are confused about reform plans are Fox News watchers. A poll released last week found that about three-quarters of Fox watchers believed Republican disinformation and lies about health-insurance reform — including 72 percent who believed illegal aliens would be covered, 79 percent who were convinced that reforms are a government takeover, 69 percent who were sure abortions were covered and a whopping 75 percent who believe in fictitious “death panels” that would order the euthanizing of the elderly and infirm.
Other findings in the AARP poll include:
* More than half of those polled want health insurance reform, but 64 percent don’t want to pay more taxes to expand health coverage to the uninsured.
* Among those with health insurance, 74 percent say they are not willing to pay higher premiums.
* Almost three-quarters of people polled believe employers who don’t provide health insurance should be required to make a contribution to a fund to help uninsured employees purchase their own plan.
* Almost 70 percent of those polled believe in looking for savings in Medicare to pay for health care reform.
In the bigger picture, these poll results illustrate that the Republicans and their masters in the health-insurance lobby have played their hands masterfully — albeit dangerously, in that they have allowed and even encouraged violence to charge the atmosphere of the debate.
There is, of course, a bizarre aspect to the GOP strategy. They have ginned up the anger in their base to the point that extremists are ready to go to war — to soak the roots of the tree of liberty with the blood of government officials and themselves — in order to preserve trillions of dollars in profits for health plans.
Democrats still have a short window of time after the recess to reframe the debate, and while these results are encouraging, time is not on the side of reform.
Hat Tip: Jon Ponder: Pensito Review
Compare that to the commentary of Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post…
Journalists, Left Out of The Debate
The down side is that in an era of bitter political division, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s death silenced a singular voice of bipartisanship at a time when colleagues are struggling with angry constituents and each other over an elusive plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Some lawmakers said Tuesday the current stalemate is the result of Kennedy’s absence for the past few, crucial months. Some hope to rescue the embattled legislation as his legacy.
Kennedy’s Absence Leaves Senate Void of Dealmaker
Although there is a move afoot to name the health care reform bill after Kennedy. Maybe the timing of his sad death will help fulfill his legacy…
Tags: AARP Poll Shows Big Majority Want Government Health Care
August 27th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
My support for a public option is contigent on the idea that it be achieved through regional or statewide cooperatives, run by and accountable to those who participate. There are plenty of precedents for this and plenty of models that can be adapted for universal health care coverage.
Giving federal bureaucrats any control is a bad idea, other than that necessary to do audits, make sure thievery is not in progress, and that money is spent mostly for care and not administrative costs.
Run by federal bureaucrats, the public option could easily end up looking like a health care version of the post office or Amtrak, or one of the dozens of other federal programs that purportedly serve the public good, but do not.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Let’s face it- the insurance companies have had years to show us how they run health insurance, and none of it is good. So, for some reason, now they come forward and expect us to ignore all that, they delays the paperwork, the rejected claims, the dozens of phone calls, the bean counters dispensing medical care, over a doctor’s advice, the dropping someone for no reason, the rejection because of previous conditions. They expect us to believe that now, the skunk will change it’s stripes, and they will do it right. Fat chance. Some say the government will do a bad job, but look at what the insurance companies have been doing, and at a 34 percent (vs. 4 percent for medicare) profit margin.