There is no poll that says that most Americans want single-payer.

[LoZoccolo]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Then someone ought to do one.

I don't know anyone who doesn't want it.

[Faryn Balyncd]

17. Here are TWO polls that show between 53% and 65% of Americans favor expanding Medicare to cover all:

....Americans, or a similar public program:

http://www.grahamazon.com/over/2008/01/poll-shows-majority-support-single-payer/

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/blog/shum-preston/2007/10/29/another-poll-voters-want-single-payer

[LoZoccolo]

23. That is not single-payer because it does not exclude a private option. n/t

[LaydeeBug]

30. who says single payer HAS to have a "private option"?

that sounds sorta fascist.

[LoZoccolo]

31. ...beeeecause there's a "single payer"? n/t

[Cleita]

36. Medicare is single payer for seniors. If it were extended to all,

it would be single payer nationally.

[bornskeptic]

56. Medicare is not single payer, although it was originally.

A Medicare enrollee has the option of enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan, in which case he or she is insured by a private company, with the government contributing to his or her premium. Currently about 20% of Medicare recipients are in Medicare Advantage plans.

[Cleita]

58. Medicare is still paid by payroll tax so it's single payer.

The Medicare Advantage plans have put their finger into the Medicare trust fund and are ruining it. It's still single payer. No senior has to pay additional money other than a co-pay, which Medicare also requires.

[leftstreet]

2. Hmm...why do you think that is?

[Demeter]

4. Sheer Ignorance and Massive Propaganda

Also, it isn't exactly being offered, is it? Why wish for something you can't get anyway?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Probably because corporate pollsters like Rasmussen and Gallup

don't want there to be a poll that indicates significant support for it.

[LoZoccolo]

6. If that were true, why would they publish polls that favor universal health care at all? n/t

[leftstreet]

9. To further muddy the meaning of 'universal' n/t

[LoZoccolo]

12. Or maybe the single-payer advocates want to make their argument non-falsifiable. n/t

[leftstreet]

19. Single payer 'advocates' are millions strong. That's why they don't poll us

But then you know that

[LoZoccolo]

21. How did you get the "millions strong" figure without a poll? n/t

[leftstreet]

24. There is no poll that says people enjoy sex n/t

[LoZoccolo]

26. And I don't care if they do or they don't. n/t

[leftstreet]

33. Your sexual apathy aside, do YOU want single payer?

Let me poll you.

[LoZoccolo]

34. No. n/t

[leftstreet]

8. Yep. Plus they cleverly word the few polls they do run, to get the desired results

[The Magistrate]

3. Be That As It May, Sir

Putting the system of private health insurance on a path to extinction is essential to any successful reform of health care delivery in this country.

[Faryn Balyncd]

7. But Sen. Chuck Grassley says 119 Million Americans would dump their private insurance for a......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5794907&mesg_id=5794907

[LoZoccolo]

10. Good for them. That does not mean they favor single-payer. n/t

[Kansas Wyatt]

54. Yet he fails to ask why Death Merchants would be dumped for Medicare.

[Mythsaje]

11. Perhaps not, but a growing segment of the population is certainly TALKING about it.

Despite the television media blackout of the subject. Of course, radio and newspapers are picking up the thread and running with it.

There are a LOT of people who aren't political out there, who wouldn't have any problem with the "socialism" aspect because, frankly, they don't give a shit as long as they aren't being driven into poverty by medical bills. If the 60% of bankruptcy involve medical costs, that would certainly suggest that a growing number of people have a personal interest in the subject.

[omega minimo]

13. Actually there is

It's held every day in every waiting room and phone queue associated with the health care system.

[DJ13]

14. You sure about that?

Another Poll Shows Majority Support for Single-Payer

February 5, 2009 by Healthcare-NOW!
Filed under Single-Payer News


A New York Times/CBS News poll released last week shows, yet again, that the majority of Americans support national health insurance.

The poll, which compares answers to the same questions from 30 years ago, finds that, “59% say the government should provide national health insurance, including 49% who say such insurance should cover all medical problems.”

Only 32% think that insurance should be left to private enterprise.

http://www.healthcare-now.org/2009/02/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer/

[LoZoccolo]

32. That's not single-payer. n/t

[DJ13]

38. Who says YOU get to decide what is single payer or not?

The poll response was specific.

Just because YOU dont like the results doesnt mean it isnt accurate.

[LoZoccolo]

46. I don't. The words "single payer" do. n/t

[dsc]

40. actually, yes it is

you are conflating government run health care, with single payer. If the government provides the insurance, it is the single payer, and thus we would have single payer, but we wouldn't have government run health care.

[LoZoccolo]

44. I understand that. The polls are not phrased to exclude a private insurance option. n/t

[dsc]

47. neither do most single payer places

Both Canada and France have private payers for those who wish to avail themselves of that option. So does Britain. The fact is that virtualy no one does avail themselves of those options.

[LoZoccolo]

50. Sure, but that's not what people here are advocating.

Lots of arguments attacking Obama about how any plans being considered are flawed because they "allow the insurance companies to exist".

[dsc]

57. I think that is an exaggeration

I do think that any realistic plan has to remove the link between employment and health care to be real reform and that would likely end the extreme role private insurance has in this country.

[Joanne98]

15. Because they haven't taken one.

[jody]

16. See polls at Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare.

http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html

[LoZoccolo]

18. lol, next. n/t

[TheWatcher]

20. *Double Yawn*

[mmonk]

22. There is no poll that says most Americans want mandated private insurance

and the privatization of medicare.

[leftstreet]

27. Best response ever

:thumbsup:

[mmonk]

28. Thanks.

:P

[LoZoccolo]

29. There probably isn't. n/t

[mmonk]

37. I think a lot of Americans would like options that include a real public option.

There are a lot of Americans which have been convinced anything than what we have would be "socialized medicine". There are a lot of Americans that want single payer. I just think reform should be weighed in an honest fashion in front of the American people. I'm one of those that think it is not being done in that manner (primarily because of the politicians and a media that in general is weighed heavily in private interests). I'm one of the people that rather they didn't do anything at this time if they have no intentions of dealing with it honestly. I think if they do it all through the private sector, but call it reform, then the results will be held up dishonestly as well be based on either limited temporary success or real failure.

[LoZoccolo]

42. As would I. I even have my own selfish reasons for it.

1. I was diagnosed with a mild heart condition in my late twenties. It's nothing serious by any stretch (I'm not going for the sympathy angle), but it does require me to take a couple common heart medications and visit a cardiologist every six months or so to monitor it. I also have an underactive thyroid, which is again nothing serious, but I have to get blood tests every year or so to monitor my levels and take synthetic thyroid hormone just as a matter of course to keep things running smoothly. My point is simply this: I am not relying, and cannot rely, on being healthy enough to prevent seeking health care on a regular basis.
2. I am in a profession (software engineering) where there is a risk of losing my job just because the company thinks that it's cheaper to give it to someone in India. No matter how hard I work, it is always cheaper - at least from the base salary level - over there. As a result, I am at constant risk of losing my private health coverage.

[mmonk]

48. I understand completely.

We need I think, something that is uniform and really cost effective in the truest sense of the word. I look back at the beginning of the Democratic primaries and one of the reasons I liked some of the candidates. Though Richardson might be considered flawed by many, I liked his idea of everyone receiving medicare at age 55. I thought just that simple approach would solve so many of the problems associated with our system while at the same time taking a lot of the political barriers out of the equation and keeping others happy. As someone who ended up at the end being an Obama delegate at the state level after the field narrowed, I'm particularly disappointed that there is even talk of further privatizing medicare now, especially with what really was a failue with the last "reform" of medicare that ended up making it cost more. So I went from the thought of receiving medicare early to probably not having it in the future. Frustrating to me to say the least.

[DJ13]

25. Do you work in the WH?

:rofl:

[SOS]

35. Perhaps, but they sure don't like the current system

Americans express broad, and in some cases growing, discontent with the U.S. health care system, based on its costs, structure and direction alike — fueling cautious support for a government-run, taxpayer-funded universal health system modeled on Medicare.
In an extensive ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll, Americans by a 2-1 margin, 62-32 percent, prefer a universal health insurance program over the current employer-based system.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/healthcare031020_poll.html

[paulk]

39. then Obama should get out there and lead on this issue

he's got the bully pulpit, he needs to convince americans that single payer is the way to go.

I thought that's what the man ran on, you know - leadership, not following polls...

[Cleita]

41. Because it's a hot potato issue that none of the corporate and political

friendly poll organizations want to touch. However, informal polls like at the news websites (CNN, CBS, etc.) have consistently come up with figures between 60% and 70% of the general population wanting a government run health care system.

[Cleita]

43. Could you define what you think single payer is?

Reading your posts on the matter, makes me believe it's only a buzz word to you and that you haven't a clue.

[LoZoccolo]

45. The government provides all health insurance - there is literally a single payer: the government. n

[Cleita]

49. And...there are other components to it. What is your idea of them?n/t

[LoZoccolo]

51. My idea is that they are full of fail. n/t

[Cleita]

52. But none of the single payer systems in the world have failed.

Some have needed rehauling from time to time because of what the conservatives who get into power do to them to cause them to fail, but they don't fail. It's a conundrum.

[LoZoccolo]

53. Here it will be 10x worse.

Wait until Republicans start denying coverage to gay AIDS patients because they "could have prevented it". It will be a constant political weapon in their hands.

[Cleita]

55. Actually that's what the insurance companies do that you are defending so

vehemently. They also won't cover dialysis if your kidneys fail you. Then Medicare, a single payer government program, has to step in to cover them. Why should Medicare have to cover all the big risks? Wouldn't it be better if Medicare could get all the money the insurance companies take and spread the risk so everyone can get the health care they should have a right to?