A new national poll suggests that a bare majority of Americans support President Barack Obama’s health care plan.
But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning indicates that most people are worried that their health care costs would go up if the administration’s proposals are passed and only one in five think that their families would be better off under the Obama plan.
Fifty-one percent of people questioned in the poll say they favor the president’s health care plan, with 45 percent opposed. . . . Fifty-four percent say their medical insurance costs will increase if the Obama plan becomes law, with 17 percent feeling their costs will decrease. Around one in four say their costs will remain the same. And only one in five say their family will be better off if the president’s plan becomes law, with 35 percent feeling they would be worse off, and 44 percent saying they would be about the same.
It isn’t clear why people support a plan (what plan is that by the way?) which will be more expensive and leave them “worse off,” but no one ever accused people of being entirely rational in their political beliefs. Perhaps if people were asked “are you in favor of spending more than a trillion dollars on a public option plan?” that 51% figure would come down. That is what the president is pushing, right? So far the public has not picked up on the president’s shift — from “guaranteeing” they will keep their existing insurance plan, to declaring he really can’t be responsible if private insurers are driven out of the market. Two-thirds of the public still believe they will be able to keep their existing plan.
What does all this mean? Opponents of the president’s plan might want to reinforce how expensive it is and how likely it is they won’t get to keep their plans. If the public is still listening, that might impact the debate and the outcome.
A very good article, with timely reminders of some well-worn lessons. Unfortunately, we always seem to have to relearn them. The cap-and-trade warning needs to be heeded by more people. I think Mr. Gordon is spot-on about its connection to the unemployment in Elkhart.
This is an excellent article. Ultimately, the U.S. government has a vital role to play in economic prosperity. Unfortunately for the Left, this role largely consists of fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities of securing property rights, enforcing contracts, and recognizing that the federal government has only enumerated powers and should respect the concurrent sovereignties of the states. This federal role should not consist of picking winners and losers of “green” technologies; further buttressing a public pension system that near-perfectly resembles a Ponzi scheme; further distorting our health care system by promising people all the health care they could possibly want while someone else pays for it; funnelling more money to bad schools that local students are forced to go to; or running up massive long-term debt that will ultimately result in a lower standard of living for subsequent generations of Americans.
of course, Obama’s “environmental” policies could reduce the RV business even after an economic recovery. But then, maybe the Elkhart locals could retrain and maybe other industries could be attracted to Elkhart to replace RVs. But those are 2 big maybes. Maybe it just ain’t gonna work out.
What say you, Mr obama?
I just wonder how big Obama carried that area on election day. Buyer’s remorse you think?
There are many Amish living near Elkhart. Perhaps Obama is expecting them to supply horses to pull the RV’s. However, the horses will have to be equipped with special masks to nullify any carbon dioxide they exhale.
JEM: McCain won Elkhart County 55-44, or by 8,000 votes out of about 70,000 cast. Though that includes the whole county, obviously; the city of Elkhart is home to just over one-quarter of the county’s population, and Obama presumably did much better there.
Bob Miller: from what I’m told about greenhouse gases and how they’re released, the “masks” won’t be on their face . . .