Do Americans favor the creation of a public health insurance?

One poll says: Yes.

Now, who believes the polls, right? I mean polls are done by mostly left-leaning organizations, right?

Not this one.

Okay, so this was a poll done by a conservative group that supports public health insurance, right?

No. This poll was done by a conservative group and PAID FOR by private health insurance companies.

Well, then the results must be very close, right?

No. This poll shows that over 80%, that's right, over 80% of Americans support the creation of public health insurance.

New Poll Shows Tremendous Support for Public Health Care Option | OurFuture.org

The 2009 Health Confidence Survey: Public Opinion on Health Reform Varies; Strong Support for Insurance Market Reform and Public Plan Option, Mixed Response to Tax Cap | EBRI

Eighty-three percent of Americans favor and only 14 percent oppose “creating a new public health insurance plan that anyone can purchase” according to EBRI, a conservative business research organization. This flatly contradicts conservatives’ loudest attack against President Obama’s plan to provide quality, affordable health care for all.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) calls itself “the most authoritative and objective source of information” on the issues of employee retirement and health benefits. Founded in 1978, EBRI says it “is the gold standard for private analysts and decision makers, government policymakers, the media, and the public.” And EBRI is funded by many of the largest corporations in America.
EBRI’s biggest donors include: AT&T, Bank of America, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Mills, IBM, JBMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Northop Grumman, Schering-Plough, Schwab, T.Rowe Price, UBS Financial, and Wal-Mart. EBRI also receives large contributions from the insurance industry, including: Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, Hartford, Kaiser Permanente, Massachusetts Mutual, Metropolitan Life, Union Labor Life, and UnitedHealth.
Here’s who paid for the poll, as stated by EBRI:

This survey was made possible with support from AARP, American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Buck Consultants, Chevron, Deere & Company, IBM, Mercer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Principal Financial Group, Schering-Plough Corp., Shell Oil Company, The Commonwealth Fund, and Towers Perrin.

Social Security - the biggest, most complicated, most heavily regulated insurance company in the history of mankind is run by YOUR federal government at less than 1% for ALL overhead and administrative costs.

Don't tell me that We, The People can't efficiently run our own insurance program.

The less money required to send insurance executives to conferences in Cancun and pay bonuses, the more money available to pay claims for beneficiaries who have paid into the system and the cheaper the premiums need to be.

Duh!

-Joe

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Treat the Earth well... It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

-Native American Proverbs

Are you seriously using social security as the model for how healthcare should be run? Wow. I didn't know that anyone was a fan of social security. Social security has been leaking and flat-out losing money for years. Remember how Al Gore wanted to put it in a lock box? Because the program stinks. We put money in and somehow it disappears. By 2025 or 2030 it is supposed to be all dried up and gone, despite the chunk they take every month from my paycheck and yours. That is why, sir, I seriously doubt overhead costs are less than 1%. And there's no way this federal government can pull of a successful medical program, especially if social security, medicare and medicaid are examples for how they'd like to pull it off.

Believe it. The administrative costs, ALL of them, including office space, wages, training, computers, heat, lights, the whole shit and shaboodle are less than 1 penny out of every tax dollar collected (just FICA taxes, mind you, not all taxes). The reason? SSA is managed and manned by professionals who are committed to excellence and willing to do the job for a reasonable wage.

SSA is the most efficiently run insurance program ever conceived. That's why the health insurance industry is lobbying so hard to keep their gravy train to themselves - they would fold under the competition.

SSA is solvent until 2035 - 2045 depending on what happens with the economy, and things are looking good for reform because starting in 1984 all newly hired members of congress were covered by SS, and civil service began being grandfathered out. As soon as the old timers like Kennedy are replaced by leadership hired after 1984, you will see Social Security reform cooking nicely on the front burner.

(insert your favorite Deity here) bless the USA!

-Joe

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Treat the Earth well... It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

-Native American Proverbs

Only those Americans who have had to deal with private health insurance.

Even if what you said was true and the SSA is the most efficient insurance program in the nation, it is still on track to crash, to fail, to run into the ground. That's not the kind of business model I want paying my hospital bills. Still, I gotta call you on this one. Do you have a source for all these claims? Or are you just making this stuff up?

Then I'm sure you must not allow your parents to accept Social Security or Medicare.

Yes, I'd heard about this poll too. 80% of Americans in favor of a public option to healthcare is pretty convincing.

My source is a dear friend who works for the agency and his source is internal training publications, but everything I've said is of public record. SSA is not on a track to crash, it is on track to need changes, which do need to be pushed for by the voters, but having congresscritters hired after 1984 being on Social Security instead of Civil Service helps - An easy way for the voters to help? Dump an Incumbant!

-Joe

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Treat the Earth well... It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

-Native American Proverbs

At a long-awaited House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, health-care professionals made it clear that they believe a single-payer system to be the best and perhaps only workable option for health care reform.

Advocates of single-payer universal healthcare—the system favored by most Americans—continue to protest their exclusion from discussions on healthcare reform. On Tuesday, five doctors, nurses and single-payer advocates were arrested at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, bringing the total number of arrests in less than a week to thirteen.

Baucus's Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer Advocates at Senate Hearing on Healthcare

60 percent of Americans in support of single-payer health insurance, advocates say Congress is excluding the majority of Americans from a critical national debate. Single-payer supporters say politicians are unfairly criticizing the idea as politically unfeasible without even having an open and public dialogue on its merits.

Who cares what Americans favor?

This reliance some of you have on polls, as though the people polled understand what's going on is totally absurd.

American are so badly being jerked around by misinformation they don't know whether to shit or go blind.

Those opposed are being fed right wing talking points against a public option. Do some research other than right wing/insurance websites.

Many Americans favor a public plan in principle, but the real question is, do they support it if it will raise their taxes, increase their health insurance premiums or increase the deficit?

A public option certainly won't raise anyone's insurance premiums.
Americans aren't as stupid as you assume.

Think about how much money you and your employer spend on your health care.

Nationwide, that is a SHIT-PILE of money!

Even poorly managed it would go a long way to paying for health care if the private insurance profits were removed from the equation.

-Joe

__________________




Treat the Earth well... It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

-Native American Proverbs