Poll: Support for Public Option Grows
Former Washington, D.C. City Council Chairman Kwame Brown, right, accompanied by his attorney Frederick D. Cooke Jr., leaves federal court in Washington, Friday, June 8, 2012, before speaking after Brown pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) / Haraz N. Ghanbari
President Obama made some progress explaining his health care reform proposals to Americans with his speech Wednesday night, a new CBS News poll shows, winning more support for a so-called public option. Still, Americans are mostly doubtful health care coverage can be expanded to more Americans without increasing the deficit.
After Mr. Obama's Congressional address on health care reform, CBS re-interviewed 648 adults who were first interviewed in a CBS News Poll conducted August 27-31. Fifty-three percent of them say they tuned in to watch the speech.
Among those who watched, 60 percent say they mostly agree with the health care plans the president presented; 33 percent mostly disagree.
Many Americans still aren't sure he has met one important goal -- clarifying what reforms would mean - although there has been major improvement.
Policy Options
In his speech, President Obama offered support for the so-called "public option" -- a government-administered health insurance plan -- but said it was only one part of his plan. Support for the public option has risen since last week from 57 percent to 68 percent. Among speech watchers, support for the public option lies at 70 percent.
The president also discussed reforms, such as requiring health insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions and mandating coverage for everyone.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care
Most Americans - 73 percent - support such increased regulation of insurance companies (including a limit on the ability of companies to deny people coverage). The public is more divided on the issue of requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, but 54 percent still favors that.
In his speech, Mr. Obama argued that a public health option, health exchanges, and other reforms would increase competition in the health insurance marketplace. While 46 percent of Americans agree with the president, 19 percent disagree, and 26 percent say there would be no impact.
There are still some doubts about whether health care coverage can be expanded to more Americans without increasing the deficit. While 52 percent say that is not possible, 42 percent think it is.
Bipartisanship
After the speech, 52 percent say they approve of how the president is handling health care, up from 40 percent last week.
The president's speech was particularly successful in unifying Democrats. As many as 85 percent of them now approve of Mr. Obama's handling of health care. And even though approval also rose among independents and Republicans, independents are still divided, and only 17 percent of Republicans approve the president's handling of health care.
As is often the case in presidential addresses, Americans who watched the speech were more likely to be from the president's own political party. Forty-two of speech watchers identified themselves as Democrats, 27 percent were Republicans and 31 percent were independents.
CBSNews.com Poll Database
Fifty-three percent of speech watchers think health care in the U.S. would get better if the plans Mr. Obama laid out in his speech are adopted. In September 1993, President Bill Clinton received slightly more positive reviews for his proposals after his speech on health care reform at 60 percent.
Mr. Obama said in his speech, "the time for bickering is over" and "we must bring the best ideas of both parties together." Nearly two in three Americans, at 65 percent, think the president is trying to work with Republicans in Congress in order to bring about health care reform.
Most Americans (61 percent) see the passage of health care reform as likely to happen by the end of this year, but just one in five call it very likely.
Still, most Americans remain skeptical about how reforms currently under consideration in Congress would affect them personally. Only 22 percent think these plans would help them. A sizeable number thinks these reforms would either have no effect (42 percent) or would hurt them personally (27 percent). These numbers are virtually the same as last week.
Read the Complete Poll
Full CBSNews.com coverage of the president's speech on health care:
Obama Tells Congress to Stop Bickering
Full Video Full Transcript Speech Highlights
GOP Response: "It's Time to Start Over"
Marc Ambinder: Will Obama's Sales Job Work?
Mark Knoller: Obama Willing to Compromise - Up to a Point
Was Obama Clear on the Public Option?
Ted Kennedy's Letter to Obama
Rep. Wilson Apologizes for Obama Speech Outburst
Analysis: The Road Ahead for Health Care
This poll was conducted by telephone on September 10, 2009 among 648 adults first interviewed by CBS News August 27-31, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. After Mr. Obama's Congressional address on health care reform, CBS re-interviewed 648 adults who were first interviewed in a CBS News Poll conducted August 27-31. Fifty-three percent of them say they tuned in to watch the speech.
Among those who watched, 60 percent say they mostly agree with the health care plans the president presented; 33 percent mostly disagree.
Many Americans still aren't sure he has met one important goal -- clarifying what reforms would mean - although there has been major improvement.
Policy Options
In his speech, President Obama offered support for the so-called "public option" -- a government-administered health insurance plan -- but said it was only one part of his plan. Support for the public option has risen since last week from 57 percent to 68 percent. Among speech watchers, support for the public option lies at 70 percent.
The president also discussed reforms, such as requiring health insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions and mandating coverage for everyone.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care
Most Americans - 73 percent - support such increased regulation of insurance companies (including a limit on the ability of companies to deny people coverage). The public is more divided on the issue of requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, but 54 percent still favors that.
In his speech, Mr. Obama argued that a public health option, health exchanges, and other reforms would increase competition in the health insurance marketplace. While 46 percent of Americans agree with the president, 19 percent disagree, and 26 percent say there would be no impact.
There are still some doubts about whether health care coverage can be expanded to more Americans without increasing the deficit. While 52 percent say that is not possible, 42 percent think it is.
Bipartisanship
After the speech, 52 percent say they approve of how the president is handling health care, up from 40 percent last week.
The president's speech was particularly successful in unifying Democrats. As many as 85 percent of them now approve of Mr. Obama's handling of health care. And even though approval also rose among independents and Republicans, independents are still divided, and only 17 percent of Republicans approve the president's handling of health care.
(CBS)
CBSNews.com Poll Database
Fifty-three percent of speech watchers think health care in the U.S. would get better if the plans Mr. Obama laid out in his speech are adopted. In September 1993, President Bill Clinton received slightly more positive reviews for his proposals after his speech on health care reform at 60 percent.
Mr. Obama said in his speech, "the time for bickering is over" and "we must bring the best ideas of both parties together." Nearly two in three Americans, at 65 percent, think the president is trying to work with Republicans in Congress in order to bring about health care reform.
Most Americans (61 percent) see the passage of health care reform as likely to happen by the end of this year, but just one in five call it very likely.
Still, most Americans remain skeptical about how reforms currently under consideration in Congress would affect them personally. Only 22 percent think these plans would help them. A sizeable number thinks these reforms would either have no effect (42 percent) or would hurt them personally (27 percent). These numbers are virtually the same as last week.
Read the Complete Poll
Full CBSNews.com coverage of the president's speech on health care:
Obama Tells Congress to Stop Bickering
Full Video Full Transcript Speech Highlights
GOP Response: "It's Time to Start Over"
Marc Ambinder: Will Obama's Sales Job Work?
Mark Knoller: Obama Willing to Compromise - Up to a Point
Was Obama Clear on the Public Option?
Ted Kennedy's Letter to Obama
Rep. Wilson Apologizes for Obama Speech Outburst
Analysis: The Road Ahead for Health Care
This poll was conducted by telephone on September 10, 2009 among 648 adults first interviewed by CBS News August 27-31, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
GOP minority leader Senator Mitch McConnell who hates Obama with a purple passion. When I logged onto Center for Responsive Politics, I discovered that Senator Mitch McConnell gets $ 2 million in political campaign contributions from the health sector. He gets $ 1 million from lobbyists. His top political donor is Kindred Health Care. Among the other top 20 campaign donors are Humana Inc, Blue Cross, and GalaxoSmithKline. I might add that Humana practices something that Cheryl Tidwell, a Humana executive calls "controlling utilization." (Source David Sirota, from an article on the Huffington Post, August 28.)
Does any one in Kentucky know that when they buy Blue Cross, they are giving Mitch McConnell a campaign contribution? Do they know that Mitch McConnel gets money from a company that uses a dreaded death panel to determine which policy holder lives and dies?
I don't think so.
Another example of public misinformation is Senator Olympia Snowe, who has received a lot of plaudits as a "moderate." Snowe's pet idea of compromise is a "trigger." However, if you do the research you will discover Snowe's hidden agenda. Olympia J Snowe gets $ 360,000 from the health sector. Aetna Inc is her 2nd individual top donor. She also gets campaign contributions from Spectrum Medical, and Goldman Sachs. So Snowe's "trigger" is really a snow job.
The same could be said about the other members of the famous or rather infamous Gang of Six.
The top 6 contributors for Charles Grassley include Blue Cross, 2nd place: Select Medical Group, 3rd place; and Amgen. Throughout Grassley's career he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the industries health insurance industry, health products, and pharmaceuticals.
Mike Enzi's top political contributor is Pharmaceutical industry. Health professionals get 2nd place, and lobbyists take 7th place. Some of his top individual contributors include Blue Cross, Amgen, Merck & Co, and Goldman Sachs.
For the Gang of Six, Bi-partisan really means BUY-Partisan.
Of the top 20 industries that contribute to Ben Nelson's political campaigns, the insurance industry takes 2nd place; 3rd place securities and investments; 4th place lobbyists; 5th place health professionals; and 7th place pharmaceuticals and health products. Over his political career, Ben Nelson has received $610,000 from the health sector and $ 739,000 from lobbyists.
His top 20 individual contributors include Amgen, Aetna, Healthsouth, Inc. IN addition, Nelson gets contributions from Altria, the nation's major tobacco company, and his top political contributor is NelNet, which finances student loans.
If we examine the industries that donate to Max Baucus' campaign funds, we find that securities and investments take 1st place; insurance, 3rd, pharmaceuticals, 4th; and health professionals, Individual contributors include Goldman Sachs, 2nd place; and Aetna Inc, and Amgen tied for 5th. Blue Cross/Blue shield, Morgan Stanley, and Altria are also among Baucus' top contributors..
Over his political career, Kent Conrad has received $ 1 million in political campaign contributions from the health sector. In fact, insurance industry is Conrad's 2nd larger campaign contributor .
Joe Wilson, is yet another example of special interests.
Among Wuilson'scontributors, health professionals took 1st place. Joe Wilson also gets hefty campaign contributions from lobbyists, for-profit hospitals and nursing homes, pharmaceuticals/health products, insurance companies, and securities and investments. If I conduct a sector analysis, the for-profit health sector is Wilson's biggest contributor. Individual corporations which contribute heavily to Wilson's political campaigns include American Hospital Association and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Furthermore, if you read an article by Holly Bailey on Newsweek.com, you'll discover Joe Wilson voted 11 times against health care for Veterans, even though Wilson himself receives TRICARE, a government-run health care program for Veterans. Wilson has already apologized to Obama, perhaps he also needs to apologize to our veterans.
It's no small wonder why so many Congressmen hate Obama and the public option. Obama is a threat to their source of campaign revenue.
In fact, when Obama stated that a public option will keep insurance companies honest, he was right on target. Right now, our health care system encourages and rewards fraud, bribery and dishonesty. For those of us who want our health care dollars going to us and not venal Congressmen, a public option is our only recourse.