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A new CBS News Poll found that a majority of Americans (51%) want Congress to pass a health care bill with a public option:
WHAT KIND OF HEALTH CARE BILL SHOULD CONGRESS PASS?
One WITH a public option 51%
One WITHOUT a public option 16
No bill at all 26
Only a very small slice of the American electorate (16%) would prefer Congress pass a health care bill without the public option. If Democrats try to cater to this very small minority, they seriously risk alienating their base. The overwhelming majority of self-identified Democrats (72%) want Congress to pass a health care bill with a public option.
Interestingly, the public option is significantly more popular than the idea of passing an overall health care reform bill with a public option. 61% of people favor the government offering a the choice of a public option, which would compete with private insurance companies, to people who are currently uninsured. This is similar to how the public option is currently constructed in the House bill. It would only be available to individuals on the new exchange. The exchange at first would only be for individuals who are uninsured, self-insured, and work for a small business.
The poll implies that there are are at least some people who don’t want Congress to pass an overall health care reform bill with a public option, but would still favor Congress only creating a public option. The public option remains one of the most popular aspects of health care reform. It is clearly less controversal among the American people than the idea of health care reform itself.
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A-yep.
i’d love to see a poll on the individual mandate (written by someone — not me — who knows how to construct honest and clear polls):
WHAT KIND OF HEALTH CARE BILL SHOULD CONGRESS PASS?
a) One WITH a mandate requiring every person to purchase health insurance or be fined
b) One WITHOUT a mandate requiring every person to purchase health insurance or be fined
c) No bill at all
and for everyone who choses (b):
SHOULD CONGRESS PASS A HEALTH CARE BILL THAT INCLUDES AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE IF
e) there is a public option
f) there are partial subsidies for people with incomes less than 400% of fpl
g) both e) & f) (both a public option and partial subsidies)
h) No bill with an individual mandate
The following question should also be asked:
Who should be able to choose to participate in the public option?
(A) Everybody.
(B) Only those without insurer-subsidized insurance coverage and who are unable to acquire, even at prohibitive rates.
(C) Only those who comply with an arcane and overly complex set of criteria written into legislation by the insurance industry.
(D) (C), but only for those who live in states not ruled by secessionist teabaggers.
do the people who respond to those polls have any idea how puny the actual public option proposed in the House Bill is?
Not surprising! Especially since the word about the public option already working well is getting out. the facts are hard to ignore! http://cli.gs/23yYaM/