Why don't most Americans support a "Public Option" for health insurance?

[KittenKoder]

Was the money for C4C the money that was borrowed from China or the money they printed off the magic printing machine?

You didn't know that Obama invented a new internet where money can be made from promises? Catch up already.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

It's simple. The private sector makes money whereas the government wastes money.

Which is why the government runs the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. The DMV, the IRS, the FBI, the post office, NASA, Medicare, the CIA, Medicaid, the VA, government inspections services which inspects places such as nulclear power plants, electrical grid, road, bridges, hospitals, airlines. And that's not even a tenth.

The truth is some areas are run better than others. It depends on the resources available and the talent of the people involved.

Republicans very rarely display talent since being taken over the by the radical religious. Why worry? They have God!

Half of those examples are bankrupt and highly inefficient, and I'm doubting that any of them would survive on their own in the private sector without the government constantly subsidizing them with tax money. The Post Office, for example, would have been out of business long ago had it not been for the government, which means that it's not helping our economy but draining it.

 

[Polk]

Was the money for C4C the money that was borrowed from China or the money they printed off the magic printing machine?

Same place the money for Iraq came from. Bet you didn't have a problem with that one though.

 

[Polk]

The Post Office, for example, would have been out of business long ago had it not been for the government, which means that it's not helping our economy but draining it.

What would take the place of the Post Office if it disappeared? And don't even begin to claim UPS and FedEx would, because while that could work for mail delivery in cities, it surely wouldn't work in more rural areas.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

The Post Office, for example, would have been out of business long ago had it not been for the government, which means that it's not helping our economy but draining it.

What would take the place of the Post Office if it disappeared? And don't even begin to claim UPS and FedEx would, because while that could work for mail delivery in cities, it surely wouldn't work in more rural areas.

I'm not omniscient so I couldn't tell you. Perhaps FedEx and UPS would pick up the slack, or maybe some other company would pop up to fill the void.

 

[KittenKoder]

The Post Office, for example, would have been out of business long ago had it not been for the government, which means that it's not helping our economy but draining it.

What would take the place of the Post Office if it disappeared? And don't even begin to claim UPS and FedEx would, because while that could work for mail delivery in cities, it surely wouldn't work in more rural areas.

Really? You mean no one in rural areas uses UPS or FedEx? Really?

 

[Truthmatters]

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Poll: Most Don't Know What "Public Option" Is -- Including Pollsters


This should serve as something of a reality check for people on both sides of the public option debate. If the respondents had simply chosen randomly among the three options provide to them, 33 percent would have selected the correct definition for the public option. Instead, only 37 percent did (although 23 percent did not bother to guess). This is mostly a debate being had among policy elites and the relatively small fraction of the public that is highly knowledgeable and engaged about health care reform; for most others, the details are lost on them.

This is also why relatively small changes in wording can trigger dramatic shifts in support for the public option, which has been as high as 83 percent in some polls and as low as 35 percent in others depending on who is doing the polling and how they're asking the questions. You don't see those sorts of discrepancies when polling about, say, gay marriage or the death penalty, where the options are a little bit more self-evident.

Unfortunately, some liberal interest groups may be contributing to the confusion as well, with this poll being a prime example. When Penn, Schoen and Berland ask people to identify the public option, they describe it -- correctly -- as offering health insurance at "market rates". However, when they ask people how they feel about the public option, a different concept is introduced:

"Starting a new federal health insurance plan that individuals could purchase if they can’t afford private plans offered to them."
Seventy-nine percent of the poll's respondents -- including 61 percent of Republicans -- say they'd support this proposal.

But it seems to be a very different proposal from the "public option" that Penn, Schoen and Berland took so much care to define, or the one that is actually being debated before Congress. Rather than offering health insurance at "market rates", the public option has been transformed in this question into a sort of fallback policy for people who are priced out of the market. Moreover, the term "government" has been replaced by the softer but more ambiguous term "federal".

 

[NYcarbineer]

It's simple. The private sector makes money whereas the government wastes money.

Really? Then why are banks and auto companies coming to the government for bailouts?

 

[Truthmatters]

Well I guess we should cut that waste out starting with the military budget

 

[NYcarbineer]

Was the money for C4C the money that was borrowed from China or the money they printed off the magic printing machine?

Same place the money for Iraq came from. Bet you didn't have a problem with that one though.

Like the Bush administration's plans to build 140 hospitals in Iraq to assure that every Iraqi had access to healthcare.

That's what your 'patriotic' conservatives support, a public option for Iraqis.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Well I guess we should cut that waste out starting with the military budget

4 3 2 1 and someone will tell you but but but the military is mandated by the Consitution!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

It's simple. The private sector makes money whereas the government wastes money.

You're right. No more education, no more roads, no more defense support for Kevin Kennedy.

Well I guess we should cut that waste out starting with the military budget

4 3 2 1 and someone will tell you but but but the military is mandated by the Consitution!!!!!!!!!!!

David/NY out of the 3 things you listed the only responsibility of the federal government is Defense. It is in the constitution.

Education and roads are state/local issues not federal issues, just like health insurance.

 

[Truthmatters]

It's simple. The private sector makes money whereas the government wastes money.

You're right. No more education, no more roads, no more defense support for Kevin Kennedy.

Well I guess we should cut that waste out starting with the military budget

4 3 2 1 and someone will tell you but but but the military is mandated by the Consitution!!!!!!!!!!!

David/NY out of the 3 things you listed the only responsibility of the federal government is Defense. It is in the constitution.

Education and roads are state/local issues not federal issues, just like health insurance.

the genreal welfare includes schools , roads and healthcare becasue the PEOPLE long ago defined it that way

 

[KittenKoder]

Well I guess we should cut that waste out starting with the military budget

Did all the other strings in your piano break to?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

It's simple. The private sector makes money whereas the government wastes money.

Really? Then why are banks and auto companies coming to the government for bailouts?

Because they know that the government is willing to waste taxpayer money on them. If it weren't for the government those businesses that can no longer compete would go out of business, and therefore would no longer be wasting resources.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

You're right. No more education, no more roads, no more defense support for Kevin Kennedy.

4 3 2 1 and someone will tell you but but but the military is mandated by the Consitution!!!!!!!!!!!

David/NY out of the 3 things you listed the only responsibility of the federal government is Defense. It is in the constitution.

Education and roads are state/local issues not federal issues, just like health insurance.

the genreal welfare includes schools , roads and healthcare becasue the PEOPLE long ago defined it that way

However, there would need to be an amendment to the Constitution to make that so.

 

[Truthmatters]

Nope there is not.

the words general wealfare are there.

Now go prove the founders prohibited this interpitation

 

[Truthmatters]

WikiAnswers - What does Promote the general welfare mean

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

You're right. No more education, no more roads, no more defense support for Kevin Kennedy.

4 3 2 1 and someone will tell you but but but the military is mandated by the Consitution!!!!!!!!!!!

David/NY out of the 3 things you listed the only responsibility of the federal government is Defense. It is in the constitution.

Education and roads are state/local issues not federal issues, just like health insurance.

the genreal welfare includes schools , roads and healthcare becasue the PEOPLE long ago defined it that way

AH but they are only to promote, not provide, the general welfare.

.

Haven't we split hairs over this before?

EDIT:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.txt

Full text is linked in the quote.

If the founders meant provide they would have said provide just like they did for defence.

 

[Truthmatters]

welfare - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary