Americans Back Public Health Care, New Polls Reaffirm

Two new polls show that Americans support health care reform, but they're concerned about costs.

Quinnipiac found that 69 percent of voters nationwide say Americans should have the option of government-run health insurance, even though only 28 percent would choose to be covered by it. Voters say 49 - 45 percent they would pay more to reform health care, but 72 percent don't want to pay more than $500 a year.

CNN found that 51% of Americans support President Obama's health care reform plan. The president has said that he wants a public option, although he has not committed to vetoing legislation that does not include it. Fifty-five percent think the U.S. health care system is in need of a great deal of reform, and two-thirds believe that the president's plan would allow them to see the same doctors they currently receive care from. But 54% of respondents think their medical insurance costs will increase if the Obama plan becomes law,

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Comments

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Actually, the public backs single payer.....Sorry Insurance companies, the public wont' buy the koolaide nor drink it any further.,We are willing to pay higher taxes for peace of mind, for the kind of coverage that is universally used by every nation excluding our own. Of course Obama is terrified his plan won't work, he is an investor for the insurance companies and will lose big if single payer comes to pass. Hello. Folks, you will end up paying less with single payer. You will get better healthcare, tests that are needed and meds that insurance companies make a fortune from. Think about this, if we had carte blanche to what we needed, when we needed it, not worrying how to pay for it, do we lose the home to pay for it? You would never have to worry about loved ones, your kids, your mental issues, getting meds you need, when you need them, tests you know you are not getting even with medicare. Single payer makes a lot of sense. Push for it... I am and won't take No for an answer.

[gladiator777]

Most of the people who CHOOSE NOT TO PAY FOR INSURANCE CAN, there is only a small minority of people that really can't pay for it, another gimmick for gov't to gain more power..........

[chaifreak]

Where is your proof? Paying %20 of their income is not an option for most families. Go peddle your snake oil some place else.

[gladiator777]

Voting should be a privilege not a right, just as a drivers license is......you need to take a test to be able to drive a car right.....­.?......so if you can't even pass a basic test about our gov't then you shouldn't be able to vote either....

[gladiator777]

Congress also needs to pass legislation that voters take a test so that they can vote, if they know nothing of the gov't then they have no right to vote because their vote is completely ignorant and they know nothing....

[KoolAidDrinkersAnonymous]

Are you pro public plan leftists worried about we are going to pay for it at all?

Are you leftists also wanting to pay for the lazy people that refuse to work for a living as well?

I for one am not wanting to pay more than I already do to take care of the lazy among us.

[chaifreak]

Apparently you're still buying the "Welfare Queen" tripe.

[plaidsportcoat]

ONLY 28 percent? Let's call it 30% since those polls always have a margin of error.
That is a huge amount of people for the public option. The insurance companies are saying
AHH-H-H-H-H-H!!! 30 PERCENT WANT TO BUY A PUBLIC OPTION!
Let's see, we have 15 percent of Americans (LOW estimate) with zero health coverage, so they will be the first 15 or 20 percent. Then, maybe another 20% will opt for the public plan, so really, folks, I don't buy those poll numbers. And as soon as people see it's just as good as the private overpriced stuff, that'll be it, OBVIOUSLY

[nuclearmonkeys]

Those poll numbers show an uninformed, ignorant, shortsighted public.

They want a public option
They don't want to pay for it (less than 500 a year? give me a break)
They think that a public plan would be more expensive (even though it's cheaper everywhere else on earth)

No wonder our representatives are so dum.b look who elects them.

[plaidsportcoat]

The people who are for this plan need to organize and put out the ADVERTISEMENTS that explain the simple facts. on teevee

[Traynor]

Read it again...they said they don't want to pay MORE for it. Not MORE than $500 MORE per year than they are currently paying

[QuicksilverKW]

I don't want to be negative about people being concerned about their health care costs going up - but there is far too little acknowledgement of the millions - like me - who can't even get insurance. I have Hepatitis C and I can't afford to even do a blood test to check my viral load because it is hundreds of dollars - let alone do anything about the disease itself. In the 9 years it will take to reach the age where I can even have any coverage through medicare I could very well be dead - unnecessarily. My husband is 62 and not well. Where do we go? The emergency room is for emergencies - not for doing tests. There is something so wrong about this picture. I support Obama's plan for change. It may not be perfect but you have to start somewhere and not bow down to the insurance companies who do everything they can to not have to pay for treatment. It is disgusting.

[plaidsportcoat]

I'm in almost exactly the same boat as you! There is a huge Hep C epidemic, but there has been no ORGANIZING of people who have it. We should organize and have a better patients' lobby. Many WOMEN got it from transfusions in childbirth, before the blood-keepers had identified it, thus before it was filtered out of the blood supply.

[Emerald1943]

I don't know why all the hoopla...the health care "reform" has been pre-determined! The "reformers" have been bought and paid for by the insurance and big pharma lobbies in Washington!

Unless we are able to achieve campaign finance reform, we will never see a health care program in this country that is affordable and covers everyone. The insurance lobbies have spent millions of dollars to stop anything that would help the American consumer. Every day, we are being deluged with ads by them, full of lies and deception.

Sorry to be so cynical, but I don't have any reason to feel otherwise. The big lobbies win again!

Too bad the American people no longer have the money necessary to BUY A CONGRESSMAN to do work for US!!

[plaidsportcoat]

Yes, there should be a sloganeering contest to combine the need for campaign finance reform with the need for single payer healthcare into a snappy slogan!

Have at it folks!

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Single payer is the only plan that should be voted on. Obama has no idea how poor his plan is, how many people will still go without healthcare, or its access. How many more needs to die before the congress and senate tell him, NO? He and his wife both have investments in the insurance companies and won't go against them, conflict of interest there, Mr. President. Lies about single payer not working have been debunked by doctors and hospitals who favor single payer. The lies no longer work. If we cannot have our troops brought home, our jobs back with decent salaries, at least give us single payer.

[plaidsportcoat]

bla bla bla post your evidence and prove he has investments that cause him to not go against them

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Its a matter of public record, under FOIA,. Michelle use to work for the insurance companies as a lawyer, her husband's firm use to lobby for them. How do you suppose she made her money? Insurance companies pay huge money to lawyers to keep patients from obtaining care. Her job was to refuse cases that were brought before them legally. Conflict of intrest. She has come out and admitted as much, as well as members of Congress who voted against single payer. Hello, Michael Moore's film, Sicko exposed the members of the senate and congress, including miss Obama, that were not only investors, but lawyers for them.

[sc300nc]

But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning indicates that most people are worried that their health care costs would go up if the administration's proposals are passed and only one in five think that their families would be better off under the Obama plan.

The jist of the poll was the above statement, conveniently left out of the HP headline.

[peterbeagle]

Please help educate all your friends & neighbors. The information is out there but gets drowned out by the insurance & drug industries – they're the ones flooding the airwaves with misleading info ... okay, lies ... because they have the $$$ to do it!

[plaidsportcoat]

Come on, nobody cares what the polls say about this stuff - everyone knows they are worded to benefit certain people - it's the damnlie of statisticians.
the only poll that matters is that 75% of people want a public option. Get the option first - and then poll on the details and see what they think

[MESGAIN26]

CORPORATIONS are trying to step on the message of public option health care no wonder cnn rateing are in the dumps

[peterbeagle]

Please help educate all your friends & neighbors. The information is out there but gets drowned out by the insurance & drug industries – they're the ones flooding the airwaves with misleading info ... okay, lies ... because they have the $$$ to do it!

[plaidsportcoat]

STOP WATCHING TV

[SarcastroBO]

The people of this country are just willfully ignorant. Every other industrialized country manages to provide cheaper health care coverage, often half as cheap per person or less than the United States, and those countries have universal coverage.

The United States on the other hand has a health care system where private insurers are raising their rates by 6 to 10% every year. Where new and far more expensive procedures are coming out every year, but the only benefit they really offer is that the medical establishment feels justified in charging more for them. We live in a country where families pay thousands of dollars a month for health insurance coverage, but are dropped as soon as a member comes down a serious illness. If you have a family health insurance plan through your employer your rates on average have risen by 80% since since 2001.

If the United States wants the best possible universal health care at the cheapest possible price, then we need NON-PROFIT single payer health care. The top ten publicly traded health insurance companies in the United States have increased their profits by over 400% since 2001. In addition, in the vast majority of America, one or two companies control at least 80% of the health insurance market. There is competition to lower prices and increase quality of health care. Does anything think they will give that up without a fight?

[jschoder]

Of course the price will be higher. That's simply because you also will be treated for "pre-existing conditions".

[peterbeagle]

like LIFE? like inherited genes? If Insurance Companies were honest, they'd just say "give me your money and we'll send you a nice little card to put in your wallet." 'cuz that's all you get.

[plaidsportcoat]

The "price" is such a nebulous undefined term, too. The price of insurance currently includes hundreds of costs that won't be necessary with a government insuror.