Majority: Health Coverage Not Gov’t. Responsibility
PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans now say it is not the federal government's responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government's responsibility.MP: Current odds on Intrade for health care reform passing with a public option by December are currently at about 5%.
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The recent change in sentiment appears to have begun at least a year before Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, and in fact most of the change seems to have occurred before he took office. Any speculations on why opinions on this subject have changed so quickly and drastically?
Also from Gallup: "From a longer-range perspective, however, Democrats' views today reflect essentially a return to the sentiment seen early in the decade, while Republicans now express significantly lower support."
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"It is possible that the current debate has increased the average American's awareness as to the nuances of the various roles the government could play in the healthcare system, helping make the generic "make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage" sound less appealing."
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"Most polling shows that Americans tend to favor a "public option" in which the government would provide a healthcare plan that would not be mandatory but one of several options for those seeking healthcare insurance. Americans apparently do not equate this with government's guaranteeing that all Americans have healthcare coverage."
Wow, I never knew it was that high. My guess is many people were thinking of things like Medicare and Medicaid in prior years - interpreting the question to mean the government is reponsible for providing a safety net.
And I think it started dropping when the question started being intepreted as the government providing routine care.
Most polling shows that Americans tend to favor a "public option"
I'm sure that when the average American becomes aware as to the nuances of a "public option" they see it for the socialist fraud that it is, resulting in a similar decline in support.
I must hand it to the Democrats in Congress. I didn't think they had a plan to cover all American with health care, but they did.
Rule 1: Buy health insurance or pay a significant financial penalty.
Rule 2: If you can't afford health insurance, and don't have money to pay your penalty, you will be sent to prison.
Rule 3: Free health care is provided in prison.
Meanwhile the professional pollsters come up with some interesting numbers...
The latest IBD/TIPP poll: Big No On Higher Taxes For Health Care
Rasmussen Reports noted Although House Passes Health Care, Most Voters Still Oppose the Legislation
John:
The change in sentiment is likely do to Socialized Medicine being a foggy concept in 2001-2007. As the topic became more apparent, in that they would concoct a Scheme, some respondents decided they didn’t really want what they previously wished for.
Then as the Scheme details unfolded even less decided they wanted it. Then when they wrote the bill, failed to read the bill, and rammed it through even less wanted the bill. If that is the trend, then as more and more details surface, more and more will bail out.
What’s interesting is the percentages mirror tax payers vs. non tax payers (in the US 60% pay Federal Income Tax taxes, 40% pay no Federal Income Tax).
The government initiatives into providing health care (medicare and all of the other health care entitlements) are largely responsible for the run up in cost. Why would anyone expect costs for health care not to spiral out of control as they have when there is literally no budget to contain the demand. We pay for any amount of care the entitlement programs require and there is seemingly no requirement that the public sees to pay for it. When medicare part D (prescription drugs) was past, there was no attendant dedicated tax increase, it appreared to be a free benefit. Every health care program has cost multiples of the original projections. The more we take on the more quickly it will bankrupt this country. Until we resolve the economic conundrum of paying for our current unfunded entitlement programs we must have the political and moral will to stop the insanity. That will require a dramatic shift in our political structure that demans congress to doll out ever more public benefits and a shift in the public conscientiousness that seems to demand more of everything regardless of the consequence.
What just came to me is that the government is going to enforce health insurance coverage trough the IRS. Several issue come up.
Not everyone in the country is on the IRS’s books.
Illegals often use other peoples SS number to get work.
Criminals file fake returns to steal people’s refunds.
If this passes, a lot of people are going to need tax and criminal lawyers just to deal with the IRS problems.
ObamaCare's imminent passage concentrates the mind. If you asked most Americans “wouldn't it be great if the federal government fixed health care and it didn't affect your coverage and it didn't cost you much,” you'll get one answer, but when you actually see a 1,900 + page bill that no one can read, stuffed full of fines, taxes and penalties, including 5 years in prison for not voluntarily joining, that's another thing. Naturally, people ask If it's so great why did Congress opt out? And why is it necessary to include prison sentences?
Michael said...
What just came to me is that the government is going to enforce health insurance coverage trough the IRS. Several issue come up.
In addition to the issues you mention for citizens, in the House bill, illegal aliens are specifically exempt from having to prove they're insured. And they will be allowed to receive coverage per prior legal precedent. So they'll get the best of both worlds. No need to pay a fine or have it, until they need it.
What I personally find particularly bizzare about this ObamaCare for want of a better word at this time is that Pelosi and apparently many of the Democrats have no problem trampling on the Constitution for health care...
Listen to this 24 second audio clip of Pelosi being vacuous as usual...
Then let's travel down memory lane and remember the whining over the Patriot Act courtesy of Jonah Goldberg: For much of the last year, pretty much every Democrat has been campaigning on the issue of who can sob the loudest. Senators John Edwards, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Congressman Dick Gephardt have all whined endlessly about how the Patriot Act shreds, folds, mutilates, cuts, and tears the Bill of Rights, even though they all voted for it...
Lieberman at least is showing some consistency...
Over at The Volokh Conspiracy there is an ongoing discussion on the constitutionality of ObamaCare..
Don't get fooled by terms used in this debate. Access to a waiting list is not the same as access to good healthcare. Right now everyone has "access" (That's right- through ERs, county health clinics, and urgent care) but what they want is "affordability." "Affordability" translated means "free."
Cool story you got here. It would be great to read more concerning this matter.
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