59% of Americans Want National Health Insurance
From a recent CBS/NYT poll:
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HEALTH INSURANCE: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE VS. GOVERNMENT? |
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CBS/NYT Now |
CBS/NYT 1/1979 |
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Private enterprise |
32% |
48% |
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Government – all problems |
49 |
28 |
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Government – emergencies |
10 |
12 |
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Don’t know |
9 |
12 |
Are Democrats listening? This represents a 37% swing in opinion on an item that Americans routinely put at the top of the list of priorities for the government to fix. National health insurance has multiple faces, so it is a mistake to think that this question indicates support for any one idea — but it is pretty safe to say that people no longer think that private insurance is doing what it should.
Another interesting item from this poll:
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SHOULD MARIJUANA USE BE LEGALIZED? |
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CBS/NYT Now |
CBS/NYT 1/1979 |
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Yes |
41% |
27% |
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No |
52% |
69% |
For these results:
There is a huge generation gap on this issue. More adults under 45 (49%) approve of legalizing marijuana use than oppose (45%), while just 31% of adults over age 45 approve of it; six in 10 are opposed.
Still not a majority, but there is a lot of movement to it.
(Sorry about the ugly tables, it was the best I could do with my extremely limited HTML skillset.)
Tags: Health Care
Hopefully a 37% swing will be too big for anyone to ignore.
BTW, your charts rock! 😉
cassandra
About the tables–I can’t even do that much. No complaints from me! 🙂
I agree with you last sentence on health care completely: the survey data doesn’t show exactly what people think national health care means, but they do think the system is broken.
As for marijuana, I’m seriously wondering if the need for more government revenue won’t push it over the edge toward legality….
We are at the point that if we had some Dems with guts we could shove National Health Care down Dana Pico’s throat.
BTW – as an employer, I’m all for single payer national health care.
Steve, I’ve been arguing that point for years. Don’t forget about all the private revenue for farmers, agribusiness, and distributors. And don’t forget the amount of money we waste on putting pot smokers, growers, and dealers in prison.
I think part of economic recovery for the U.S. is universal healthcare. Businesses can no longer afford the burden of carrying insurance for their employees and even insured Americans are carrying greater burdens. I think of universal healthcare as an innovation booster, since Americans will no longer be terrified of losing their jobs or getting sick.
People are well aware that the system is broken. They’re also aware of how easily a person can slip through the cracks, and, for those with insurance, that their health insurance company may actually look for ways to not cover them when/if they become ill.
Talk about kicking people when they’re down.
X–according to several studies conducted in the early 1990s, pot was the largest cash crop grown in Kentucky and the 3rd largest in Tennessee.
As a libertarian I love consumption taxes more than any others, because I can always choose not to consume (or inhale, thanks Bubba).
My idea of the perfect tax BTW is the vanity license plate.
Talk about kicking people when they’re down.
P –check out my update to yesterday’s brain-drain post.
Smitty, this is exactly what I’m talking about! No one knows how good their health insurance is until they need to use it.
My best friend is struggling with cancer, and she says dealing with her insurance company is more exhausting than chemo. She also says that even if they end up paying, she suffers though days of phone calls, emails and letters getting them to agree.
Don’t kid yourself, the second you use your health insurance the insurance company unleashes a slew of people intent on discrediting your claim.
And that’s the real reason for the 37% swing – it’s coming from the “insured.”
Smitty, I’m sorry. That really sucks.
Lawyer said it could happen, but I forgot how long he said they had. It’s probably six months from settlement, which is tomorrow or something very close. I do know it is this week, six months ago. Anyway, had we squandered it, I’d be pissed at myself. Knowing we paid what we could with it, I laugh at it’s request
I’m considering making this a series now, so other people realize how incredibly effed up it really is and that fantasy is reserved for hot coffees and soups.
As for marijuana, I’m seriously wondering if the need for more government revenue won’t push it over the edge toward legality
I’d bet not. Too many people underestimate the very powerful political forces against legalization. And they come from two groups:
1) Urban African Americans and Hispanics — with African Americans being a very reliable voting block for Dems. Legalization of drugs sounds to these communities like sanctioning the corner kids and their thuggery. It also bumps up against an expectation that if the drugs were not so prevalent, their kids wouldn’t be as likely to get caught up in it.
2. The white people who left the city. Don’t underestimate the sense of relief (generously) or schadenfraude (cynically) of people who got out watching the 11 o’clock news perp walk. Many of them think that the drugs won’t affect their kids any more and certainly they feel more shielded from the thuggery. They are quite wrong of course, but these tough on drugs suburbanites (used to be) a reliable R vote.
So all of these pols get their law and order on because there are real communities pressuring them for it.
I’m sorry you have to deal with this Smitty — insurance companies are increasingly a con job these days. Every time I listen to some wonk talk about controlling medical costs, I am quite sure that their evaluation costs DO NOT include your costs for waiting, filling out the paperwork, negotiating for coverage, negotiating for payment and so on. It can’t just keep going on this way.
Cass – they are fools. Legalizing marijuana will put a lot of thugs out of business. It will also give Mexicans a major economic reason to stop crossing the border illegally, because it will help fix Mexico’s drug wars and economic woes in one fell swoop.
I don’t know if I would characterize all of them as fools. But while there are real advantages to some legalization, the devil is in the details AND in how you address the not insubstantial concerns of folks who ought to be your allies.
Goverment single payer national health care (HR 676)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111NssUNo:e1562:
is still in House committee (without Mike Castle as a co-sponsor.)
they ignored us when we wanted out of Iraq, they sure as shit can ignore us now.
I can’t even begin to imagine how Limbaugh and Hannity would react.
Look at them with the Fairness Doctrine…
Honest question. After the legalization of marijuana – will demand in the U.S. go up or down?
UP…way up. Think of the tourist industry we would see.
Dude, I’d rent out my house for weeks
If it’s legalized, I call dibs on the first Delaware farm!!! DV, I will hire you as my top production manager, which will include all QA activities. You on board?
Hmmm, I think I should be more like THE quality assurance guy, I can really see myself diving into that roll
I think you’ve got a business plan there, Smitty.
NP, I can get a production manager elsewhere. You got the job, DV. Now, let’s get this thing legalized!
Hmm…we need a location, though. Is your backyard available for the startup phase?
front yard is. do it right out by the road so we get the free advertising
your wife can be the model for the advertising campaign
Obama does not support HR 676 nor National Health Care.
Will you take him to task or blame everything on Republicans?
If Obama wants national health care it could be done in 90 days but he doesn’t.
your wife can be the model for the advertising campaign
We hold practice sessions daily, so she should be ready.
Will you take him to task or blame everything on Republicans?
Both. It is Republicans who poisoned the well for national health care.
Obama’s position is that he would prefer national single-payer if starting from scratch, but at this time he is practicing the art of the possible. I am not pleased with Obama on that issue, but all the Republicans are worse.
…will demand in the U.S. go up or down?
I think that this really depends on how available it is and how much revenue the government gets out of it. If they tax it enough to make a dime bag into a Benjamin bag, all bets are off.
If it is legalized the price will drop to nearly nothing so there needs to be a tax heavy enough to keep the price equal or greater than current street prices.
And then you would still need to police the growers because once it is legal, the black market will still exist to evade the taxes, like the current cigarette-smuggling market. They will still be defending their growing operations with AK-47s just to avoid the tax, and they will still need mules and clandestine sales outlets, so I’m not sure why crime would drop.
To avoid this criminal scenario you would have to skip the tax and let the price fall to pennies per ounce, and then the revenue benefits would be lost. Then violent crime would drop, but the low price would risk creating hordes of new users.
“like the current cigarette-smuggling market. ”
Yeah, that’s in the news quite a bit… that and moonshine runs cross the Canadian border… c’mon dude…
I agree, DG. While it may exist to an extent, that may have been one of THE MOST sensationalized arguments I read in a looooong time. Plus, I already have my farming plot laid out on DV’s front yard.
because once it is legal, the black market will still exist to evade the taxes
So how do the Dutch do this? I know that you can get the stuff in specified places, but I can’t imagine that they aren’t collecting some taxes on it.
like the current cigarette-smuggling market
This means that the Smitty/DV business model now needs one of us to step up to claim to be an Indian Reservation so we could sell the stuff with minimal taxes. I know that there are states concerned that people have been able to buy their cigarettes on the internet thereby avoiding the taxes…..how big of a problem is real smuggling?