A new Washington Post/ABC Poll shows that public opinion on the health care reform debate is starting to change. The public's approval of Obama's efforts has dropped from 57% in April, to 49% today. Disapproval has increased from 29% to 44% during the same time period. Most of the change is the result of the change of view of the independents who make up a significant portion of our electorate today.
We now expect the "p.r. machines" on both sides to start to work to try to influence the numbers- just like in the 90's. And, it's quite sad. It is very likely that whoever comes up with the best marketing gimmicks (whether truthful or not) will get their way.
We understand that this is all part of the democratic process. We welcome the dialogue and debate that should occur between ideas to come up with a compromise solution that is best for our country. We too are concerned with the deficits that are being built-up that will be left to our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren to get us out of the mess we are in today. But, we are even more concerned with remaining with the "status-quo". The numbers speak for themselves- reforming the way health care is delivered in our country is key to our economic stability in the future.
A recent Harvard University study found that in 2007 over 60% of the bankruptcies in our country were in some way related to medical/health care issues. Numerous studies predict the out-of-pocket costs paid by individuals will continue to increase and at some point will become unaffordable. Savings built during a lifetime of participating in the work-force are being wiped-out by a single medical event. Employers will continue to struggle with the costs of healthcare as they continue to be a significant competitive disadvantage when competing in a global marketplace.
The public needs to understand that health care reform isn't about whether we have a "public plan" option or not. In many respects, it's not about the "uninsured". The public needs to understand that the model we have today will very likely lead to economic disaster in the future. The public needs to understand that we are already rationing care with the system we have. The public needs to understand that the system we have today is simply not sustainable for the future. And, the public needs to understand that there are less costly options to really reforming our health care system than some of the options being promoted today simply due to politics.
It is wonderful that public opinion carries the weight that it does in the democracy that we have. We only hope that the public is provided the truthful information it needs to be able to make an informed opinion in the first place.
At this point in the debate, we don't think it does.
I agree that the public is being poorly served by the politicians and the media that have created a debate that is either all in or all out.
ReplyDeleteI blame the President and the lop-sided democratic congress for not lookng for any compromise or new ideas. And the media for not allowing any of the other sides ideas to be brought forward. This process is being moved as fast as possible for political reasons and to make sure the public remains uninformed. The public is not even aware of how flawed the statistics are on the uninsured. If they knew they would lose interest quickly in a hasty gov't run insurance proposal that will do nothing to reducs costs or improve care.
Any public plan will have the advantage of being able to print money (and increase debt) to stay afloat while the private plans will need to make a profit to stay in business. The end-game is clear.
This debate should be open, honest and lengthy. It should not be pushed through with hasty design and a plan to pay for it with the Golden Goose: the rich. We all know what happened to the benefactors of the Golden Goose.