New York Times: Growing Unease on Healthcare
Kurt Brouwer July 30th, 2009
New Poll Finds Growing Unease on Health Plan (New York Times, July 29, 2009, Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee-Brenan)
President Obama’s ability to shape the debate on health care appears to be eroding as opponents aggressively portray his overhaul plan as a government takeover that could limit Americans’ ability to choose their doctors and course of treatment, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Americans are concerned that revamping the health care system would reduce the quality of their care, increase their out-of-pocket health costs and tax bills, and limit their options in choosing doctors, treatments and tests, the poll found. The percentage who describe health care costs as a serious threat to the American economy — a central argument made by Mr. Obama — has dropped over the past month.
Mr. Obama continues to benefit from strong support for the basic goal of revamping the health care system, and he is seen as far more likely than Congressional Republicans to have the best ideas to accomplish that. But reflecting a problem that has hindered efforts to bring major changes to health care for decades, Americans expressed considerable unease about what the end result would mean for them individually.
“We need to fix health care,” Mary Bevering, a Democrat from Fort Madison, Iowa, said in a follow-up interview, “but if the government creates the system, I’m afraid the quality of care will go down and costs will go up: We will pay more taxes.”…
This New York Times/CBS poll reflects many others as well, including Gallup and Rasmussen. Though most Americans agree that some changes in our current health insurance system are needed, most are also quite happy with their personal healthcare and health insurance.
The problem of rising costs and uninsured Americans are important issues that we would like to address. However, the idea that we are going to get solid solutions for these problems from Congress is seen as unlikely.
We have a 1,000+ page bill before Congress and, by the reports I read, most representatives and senators have not even read it. That’s just wrong. If our leaders are voting on legislation, the least they can do is read it. As the NYT and other pollsters have found, Americans are increasingly uneasy about this issue.
Via: Brothers Judd Blog
See also:
Reform Healthcare Culture and Politics First
Healthcare Satisfaction vs. Congress
- Economy , Geopolitics , Money , Personal Finance , healthcare , income taxes , inflation
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