President's Pollster Sends Congressional Dems a Memo
President's Pollster Sends Congressional Dems a Memo 44 washingtonpost.com:
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Joel Benenson
RE: Public Opinion and the State of Health Insurance Reform
DATE: September 3, 2009
•By large margins, the American people support major reforms to the health care system.
--82% of Americans say that the U.S. health care system needs either fundamental changes (55%) or needs 'to be rebuilt' (27%). (CBS, Aug. 31)
•A substantial majority of Americans believe that the problems in the country's health care system will eventually affect most Americans if they are not addressed.
--65% of Americans believe that the health care system's problems will eventually affect most Americans, while only 31% believe most Americans will continue to get good health care. (CNN, Aug. 31)
•The desire for change is driven, more than anything else, by a desire to see a crackdown on the worst practices of insurance companies:
--An overwhelming 92% say it is important to them personally that reform protects consumers in the health insurance market by requiring insurance companies to continue coverage at reasonable rates when they become ill. (Kaiser, Aug. 11)
--Two thirds (66%) say this is very important to them. (Kaiser, Aug. 11)
•There is little doubt that the moderate numbers of support for the President's health insurance reform plan are based in large part on a lack of awareness of the details of the plan.
--Only 31% say they 'understand the health care reforms under consideration in Congress, while 67% say they find them confusing. (CBS, Aug. 31) --Indeed, even Republican pollster Public Opinion Strategies found that 37% have no opinion yet on the President's plan, while 25% support and 37% oppose. (POS, August 13)
This is good news. It means that the President's speech this week may in fact have a positive impact on the center of gravity of public opinion. It's not surprising (1) that people do not understand the specifics of the plan, or (2) that they have a tendency to feel negatively about it in the absence of specifics, given the incessant fear mongering from the right. There is good reason to hope that Obama will be able to fill the vacuum on the pro side of the debate. Facts and calm leadership have a tendency to tamp down fears, at least among those who will actually listen.
I personally hope he takes this opportunity to commit to a strong public option, though from what I'm reading it doesn't sound likely. Without a good public option I'm afraid any bill won't be effective. I'm also concerned that any public option that might pass will be so full of giveaways to the drug and insurance companies that it can't bring down costs. Either way, conservatives would then claim the bill proves that "government intervention" in health care won't work. Which would probably result in my needing extra health care.....
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think all of those fears are well founded.
ReplyDeleteIt is reasonable to be concerned that we will see attempts to insert poison pills into any public option.
It's interesting - if you read the Brookings Institution report from a few posts ago, they make a good case for a number of structural changes that do not depend on a public insurance plan. Not backing off of the importance of public insurance, but it does give some hope that some good can be done short of it.