The public option is popular!

right wing nuts everywhere must be hunched in their capes... (0.00 / 0)

curling their handlebar mustaches and hissing..."curses"

---

by: problembear @ Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 22:41:01 PM UTC

That's a good allusion (0.00 / 0)

since at best, our Democratic leaders in the Senate are about as competent as Dudley Do-Right.  Let's just hope either Nell (Pelosi?) or Horse (hmm...) are able to save the day.

---

by: Duncan Idaho @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 00:40:34 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wrong again Jay - (0.00 / 0)

Just 42 percent of voters support Democrats' health care reform plans even though a majority wants Congress to pass some version of reform, according to a new poll released Monday.

The Rasmussen survey shows 54 percent is opposed to the plans backed by President Obama and Democrats in Congress. The percentage of voters supporting the proposals is down 2 points from the previous week and down 4 points from the week before that.

As I'm hunched in my cape, I'm examining legitimate figures problembear -

---

by: Eric Coobs @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 02:28:10 AM UTC

the numbers... (0.00 / 0)

...show that the slump in support for reform is coming from the left. In short, you're celebrating the fact that this reform push is too conservative for Americans.

Attach a strong, widely available public option to this bill, along with strong subsidies for those that can't afford health care, and support shoots up to 70 percent.

---

by: Jay Stevens @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 16:40:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And don't expect Rasmussen (0.00 / 0)

to poll accurately that slump in support from the left. Much better to lump left wing criticism of reform with the right to beef up the naysayers trumpet.

---

by: JC @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 17:38:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Asking people if they are in favor (0.00 / 0)

of the nebulous Public Option without defining what it is,how it works, and who may avail themselves of it, is sorta like asking people if they are in favor of world peace.  The devil is in the details.

Here is the Public Option question from the poll:  http://www.pollster.com/blogs/...

"Would you support or oppose having the government create a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans?
57% Support, 40% Oppose"

I'll bet people are in favor of ending world hunger too.

---

by: Craig Moore @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 14:43:30 PM UTC

we may not... (0.00 / 0)

...be able to end world hunger, but we sure can create a public option.

---

by: Jay Stevens @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 16:41:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Until it's defined it is meaningless (0.00 / 0)

Now as to the specific poll question, it is my opinion that people were responding to having competition for the insurers, not specifically having an undefined public option. People understand what competition is, no one knows yet what the Public Option will look like.

---

by: Craig Moore @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 18:03:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But they know what a public option is not (0.00 / 0)

And it is not just another insurance corporation doing the same old same old.

Look at GroupHealth in Washington. It is one of the models that the co-option idea is built around. It operates no differently than any other traditional insurance company.

The public option, as weak as it may end up being, is seen as an alternative to a system of health care that has failed millions. Not having a public option will be seen by millions as a failure of Congress and the administration to act in the public interest. And yes it is symbolic, as hollow as that may sound.

Even better, would be to break the unsurance industry's monopoly power in addition to a PO.

---

by: JC @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 19:01:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]