Reply #30: 65% want a universal health care system for everyone...

[slipslidingaway]

so what the hell happened ... they switched the message and sold us on the idea of a public option, a uniquely American solution.

:(

questions on page 15 ...
http://surveys.ap.org/data/KnowledgeNetworks/AP-Yahoo_2007-08_panel02.pdf

http://www.mnhealthreformcaucus.org/?p=8

"Yet another poll demonstrates that a majority of Americans support universal coverage under a single-payer system. A poll conducted during the week of December 14-20, 2007 by the Associated Press and Yahoo found that 65 percent of Americans support extending Medicare to everyone, and that 54 percent are willing to identify themselves as single-payer supporters.

Here are the questions asked by the AP-Yahoo poll:

ISS14. Which comes closest to your view?


“The United States should adopt a universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers.”

“Do you consider yourself a supporter of a single-payer health care system, that is a national health plan financed by taxpayers in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan, or not?”

Sixty-five percent answered yes to the first question, and 54 percent said yes to the second one. (Poll results available through link at: http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-voter-worries. After you click on the link at this address, scroll down to page 15.)

A single-payer system and a Medicare-for-all system are synonymous. Why, then, was support higher for extending Medicare to all than for a system described as a “single-payer”? The answer, it seems obvious to me, is the level of familiarity people have with Medicare versus the concept of “single payer.” Medicare is a familiar program, while the phrase “single-payer” is not.

These data tell me that as people become more familiar with single-payer their support for it will rise. I believe the same applies to Medicare for all. As people become more familiar with what that means, and as more political leaders and other opinion-makers promote Medicare for all, support for Medicare for all will rise beyond the two-thirds level that exists today.."