Majority Still Favors Public Option

The House and Senate Democrats are still debating the differences between their health care reform bills (and I use that term loosely regarding the Senate version). Two of the major differences between the bills are whether to include a public option and what kind of tax to impose to pay for the reform. It looks like the Senate may prevail because President Obama has signed on to their version.

But maybe Congress should look at the new CNN/Opinion Research poll before they make up their minds. This new poll, which surveyed 1,021 Americans between January 8th and 10th, shows the public is not enarmored with the Senate bill. A clear majority like the House version better.

For months, a majority of people have wanted a public option to be included in the bill, and that majority is still intact (regardless of the lies being told by the right-wing who want us to believe otherwise). The new CNN/OR poll shows that 54% of the population supports a government-run (or "public") option for health insurance, which is included in the House version of the bill.

The poll also shows the people support the House's way to pay for the reform. The House would put a tax on people with high incomes to pay for it, while the Senate would tax high-end private insurance plans (even if they belong to workers who don't make high salaries). At least 61% of the people like the tax on the wealthy better, including around 50% of those who make $100,000 or more.

The right-wing would like for everyone to believe that a majority are opposed to health care reform, but that is just not true. Although 57% say they are opposed to the current bills (especially the Senate bill), only 45% say they are opposed because the bills are too liberal. The other 12% think the bills are not liberal enough and want more reform. I believe the people in this group (including myself) could be persuaded to support the House bill as long as a public option remained in it.

Senate Democrats are not taking this 12% seriously, and that is a mistake. They think the 12% will wind up voting Democratic even without a public option. They could well be wrong. I can only speak for myself, but I think many others will agree when I say I will not vote for a blue dog Democrat at any level (local, state or national).

I will seek out and vote for truly progressive Democrats next November, but if I get even a whiff of blue dog from a candidate then I will vote third party (or not vote in that race). The Green Party is on many state ballots, and they make an attractive alternative when running against a blue dog.

I urge Congressional Democrats to listen to the people. If you don't, you may wind up paying for it in November.