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New Poll: Majority Supports Government-Run Health Option

Wednesday 01 July 2009

by: David M. Drucker  |  Roll Call

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President Obama at a health care townhall in Annandale, Virginia, today. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)

    A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday gauging registered voters' views of health care reform underscores the political complexity of the issue, with the results offering ammunition to both the supporters and opponents of President Barack Obama's No. 1 legislative priority.

    The national poll of 3,063 registered voters showed that 69 percent believe Americans should have the option of purchasing government-run health insurance. But only 28 percent of those polled said they would take advantage of government-run insurance, a number that could suggest a lack of confidence in Washington's ability to administer coverage.

    The survey was conducted June 23-29 and has a 1.8-point margin of error.

    The poll also showed that 72 percent of respondents would not pay more than $500 annually to finance a health care overhaul. Only 15 percent said they would be willing to pay between$500 and $1,000 annually in taxes to finance reform that lowers costs and ensures that all Americans have coverage.

    "American voters want their fellow countrymen to have the option of a public plan, but don't want a public plan for themselves because they are satisfied personally with their health care," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a prepared statement. "That presents a challenge to those who want Americans to pay more to reform the system."

    Meanwhile, the poll's respondents said they trust Obama more than Congressional Republicans to take on the issue, with 53 percent favoring Obama to 33 percent preferring Republicans.

    By a showing of 52 percent to 42 percent, respondents agreed with a central argument that Obama has used to sell the idea of a government-run insurance option, saying they believe a public plan will "keep private insurance companies honest."

    However, by a response of 58 percent to 32 percent, respondents said that government-run health care generally would be a "bad thing." The poll also found tepid support for mandating that everyone acquire health insurance, with respondents rejecting that idea 51 percent to 44 percent.

    Also Wednesday, a separate CNN poll found that a narrow majority of those surveyed, 51 percent to 45 percent, support Obama's plans for health care reform.

  

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Comments

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Are anyone else's ears

 Wed, 07/01/2009 - 21:41 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Are anyone else's ears burning? What I am hearing (sotto voce) is this: we will not get egalitarian care by any means, the broad public will get rationed care i.e. HMO-minus-minus, all the billions that go into R&D of great new medical technologies will benefit , guess who, the billionaires. Madoff was a classic ponzi man, what we are seeing in health care policy now is a classic bait and switch.

I can't believe people are

 Wed, 07/01/2009 - 21:50 β€” Incredulous (not verified)
I can't believe people are really that stupid. They would prefer spending up to 20% of their income on health insurance that denies coverage for "pre-existing conditions" than eliminating that expense in favor of perhaps 5% in additional taxes for more complete coverage? And let's not even talk about the fact that as things stand now, people have to wait months to get an appointment for a physical. Or that they often sit for hours in a waiting room when they do get an appointment. This is WITH their high-priced insurance coverage. What, exactly, are we clinging to??

OK, everybody, voters,

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 00:04 β€” Alicia Bay Laurel (not verified)
OK, everybody, voters, elected officials, health care professionals, PLEASE watch "Sicko" again (or for the first time if you haven't yet). Don't tell me the film is inaccurate; every single fact was vetted by teams of lawyers before the film was released. Clearly, Michael Moore would have had scores of libel suits by now if any of the facts he presented in the film weren't irrefutable. The film spells out the case for national single payer health care in large clear letters that anyone can read. The folks who are presenting the case for anything other than single payer national health care are doing their best to obfuscate the truth, and an awful lot of folks are falling for it.

Any poll that does not take

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 00:11 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Any poll that does not take into account the option of universal single pay health care is not an acceptable measure of what is needed and wanted by U.S. citizens. This 3000+ sample is like a drop of water in the ocean. Who is fooling whom?

What this says is that the

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 00:34 β€” greg gerritt (not verified)
What this says is that the medical industrial complex and the insurance industry have sown lies all over the place and confused people. The idea is not to mandate everyone BUY insurance it is to make sure everyone has access to affordable health care. Ass long as it is framed as a mandate to buy, it will fail. Therefore frame it as access to health care, not a mandate to buy insurance. But Obama seems like he is owned by the insurance giants

I think the problem is that

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 00:46 β€” Laura (not verified)
I think the problem is that Americans simply don't realize how well a government run system can work. I live in Colombia - Colombia, for crying out loud! - and I participate in the national obligatory, universal health care system here. I pay about $65 a month for coverage of pretty much everything. My blood pressure medicine is FREE, and my copay for doctor appointments and labs is about $3.00. I could buy supplemental insurance for about $100 per month, but it wouldn't cover pre-existing conditions, so I don't bother. Buildings are old, but service is as good and sometimes better than my old Blue Cross coverage in the US. If Colombia, with all its problems, can do this, why the heck can't we???

This article proves the old

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 00:50 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
This article proves the old adage "Statistics don't lie but liars use statistics." The statement "But only 28 percent of those polled said they would take advantage of government-run insurance, a number that could suggest a lack of confidence in Washington's ability to administer coverage." draws a conclusion that is tainted. Maybe only 28 percent said they would take advantage" means that the others polled already had decent coverage. Possibly many people who don't have health care coverage also don't have telephones to respond to polls. And to the respondent who writes"all the billions that go into R&D of great new medical technologies will benefit , guess who, the billionaires." I ask, "What billions go into R&D of new medical technologies?" Most money goes into advertising- very little goes into R&D. With a public option, those who don't have coverage (or telephones to answer polls) will have coverage, hopefully administered as Medicare is now to the elderly, a successful program if the US Gov't didn't keep raiding SS and Medicare funds to pay for unrelated expenses.

"that 'will keep insurance

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 02:19 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
"that 'will keep insurance companies honest" BWAHAHAHAHAHAHa. Is this person quoted saying 'because insurance companies are currently honest, the public option will continue this?' Is this person saying 'it is possible for insurance companies to become honest?' Is this person saying "I have this bridge in Brooklyn...

Remove the healthcare

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 02:32 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Remove the healthcare industry altogether! The words health and industry should never have to be used in the same sentence. If a gov't plan is put alongside private plans we all know what is going to happen... it will most likely be fought tooth and nail by many bought congressmen like Baucus on BOTH sides of our narrow political spectrum until it is chronically underfunded and truly ineffective, setting up a context for the insurance giants to saytheir favorite, dreaded fear word "SEE, we told you so! SOCIALIZED medicine doesn't work!" Socialized medicine is NOT perfect, just a hell of a lot better. I just returned to the U.S. after living in western Europe for a year and no, there is nothing perfect and rosy about that continent. They have many of the same problems we do. But you know what? going bankrupt because you got sick is not one of them. The profit motive should not control healthcare, pure and simple.

So a majority of Americans

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 04:19 β€” R.R. (not verified)
So a majority of Americans want health care but they hardly want to pay for it. And a hard-core minority of of right-wing Americans don't want any government money spent on helping their fellow neighbors or brothers in need of medical care. If that's the case then we Americans are living in some kind of unrealistic dream-land. Well, with those attitudes, we'll just turn our Americans dreams into a nightmarish nation of dog-eat-dog, class warfare cut-throats. "I was born into wealth, vote Republican, and have a lot of money to afford private medical insurance, and in comparison, you moderates, intellectuals, and blue-collar workers don't have any at all, so tough-titty for you and your sorry-assed family of un-American losers." ...Sad, cynical sarcasm. Whatever happened to the egalitarian, democratic ideals of helping out your brothers and sisters in need? Why are the neo-con wing-nuts so against freedom of choice in our options? When did the Christian concept of helping others turn into an absurdly derogatory label of bleeding-heart liberal socialism?

Told so little about the

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 04:30 β€” Der Rot Baron (not verified)
Told so little about the actual questions that who knows what these numbers mean, or how much "creative license" has been used in the interpretations of what the respondents actually think. Do 3000 registered voters actually know what Obama's plan is in enough detail to knowledgably answer the questions asked in this survey? I would be very skeptical of a statement that three quarters of Americans are "satisfied" with their current insurance, so they wouldn't choose public access to care for themselves. Many Americans are very critical of their current private insurance, but are afraid to loose it because they don't see any better options. Even more Americans are critical of the costs they actually see for private insurance, and unaware of the hidden costs already paid. The typical "ambivalence" is: Health care has gone to hell, but my doctor is great. Mr Brown may be over interpreting his data quite a bit. Yes, keeping the insurance industry "honest" is a joke indeed. Remember, health care is dangerous to your health.

Now is the time to realize

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 04:42 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Now is the time to realize the economic truth. The only economically viable policy is Single Payer, a public national universal guaranteed access to care for everyone. Krugman has noted that Single Payer is economically very, very simple; that's why its so much more economically efficient than any nonpublic "coverage", or any mixed system. Employers are getting killed by the existing system, and Single Payer completely relieves them of that burden. And, we already have multiple, functioning, very high quality single payer systems of care in place in the US now: Military, VA, tricare, medicare, through the states, medicaid, etc.

These healthcare polls have

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 05:58 β€” freelyb (not verified)
These healthcare polls have been so irritating. They don't ask enough questions to evaluate the sources of conflict in the results. And how can they be reliable when we don't even have the details of a government run plan? Asking about something so sketchy, in comparison to what they currently, have is a meaningless question. I get the feeling that people want to support the public option, but the damned thing hasn't gotten enough air time to educate the public about it's potentials.

The beauty of single payer,

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 06:06 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
The beauty of single payer, too, is that it delivers with dignity. The quality of care goes up for everyone (except that tiny minority -- like members of Congress and insurance company execs -- who were getting the best, to begin with, and now, have no one to feel superior to). All get to choose their doctors and just go in and see them without worrying about bills and insurance or whether or not the medical establishment is accepting their less than adequate plan. Or is going to treat them well, or not so well, depending on what kind of coverage they have.... H.R. 676 would take 3% of a person's pay, with employers matching at 3%. Most Americans want H.R. 676, when polled. That's the plan everyone would get. (Unless they're purchasing something extra.)

Lemme get this straight...

Thu, 07/02/2009 - 09:17 β€” Rautain (not verified)
Lemme get this straight... Republicans would rather PAY about TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS a year for private medical insurance coverage, rather than contribute five percent of their pay for universal health care for all Americans? Man... "THE PARTY OF NO," tries to pass themselves off as KNOWING THE COST OF EVERYTHING -- yet they're so cynically selfish -- THEY DON'T KNOW THE VALUE OF ANYTHING, except their failed, core ideologies, their war machine blood money,their FoxNews propaganda and crude oil petrodollars they've greedily line their pockets with... Thus, it should come to us as no surprise that they've chosen RUSH LIMBAUGH AS THEIR PARTY'S SPOKESMAN.

I am working on helping to

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 15:24 β€” Americans want the Public Option NOW (not verified)
I am working on helping to pass the Public Option in California, and I have heard many health cares stories. Americans want the Public Option, and they want it now. I can't believe this article since I am getting the opposite of what this article is saying. Americans are suffering, because they struggle to make their health care insurance. Let's not forget the 47 million Americans without care insurance. I am 24, and I am in debt with medical bills. I had a broken head, broken r. arm, titanium rode in my left arm, arthritis on both of my knees, a metal poll go into my stomach, and right now I have a over grown disk pressing my nerves that go into my right arm. We need health reform now. I stand with our President on the Public Option just like 73% of Americans.

You have heard the old

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 17:33 β€” Lariokie (not verified)
You have heard the old adage, "Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see"? Well, how do you think that applies to the fine art of political polling (re. propaganda polling)? I'd say it might come in somewhere south of "what you hear" on the believability scale. Granted, we ARE stupid as a nation of cows, but certainly we must not continue to allow this country to be governed by self-serving polls that are so easily manipulated.

Healthcare (like Education,

 Mon, 07/06/2009 - 19:20 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Healthcare (like Education, the Police, Firefighters, the Army, the Post Office etc.) SHOULD NOT BE AN "INDUSTRY"! The big bad bugaboo of 'socialized' medicine is just one more silly (but apparently effective) ploy [the sky is falling, the sky is falling, chicken little ...] by the profiteering medical establishment ..... when you turn what should be guaranteed services available to all (see above list as examples) under the "Social Contract" we all agree to as taxpayers into for-profit MBA-inspired boondoggle 'industries', you get higher and higher premiums for less and less service, and fatter and fatter Insurance Industry CEOs! Turn the armed services into "Industries" and what do you get? (Oh, yeah Cheneyh tried that β€” and we got KBR, and Halliburton etc. ripping off the soldiers and the taxpayers......)