Poll shows 50% oppose health care reform

Houston Chronicle:

Public support for congressional efforts to reform America's health-care system is declining, according to a report released Wednesday by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Zogby International.

The authors conducted an online poll that found 50 percent of respondents oppose a bill introduced by U.S. House Democratic leaders this week that would overhaul the system and pay for it by raising the taxes of the wealthiest Americans. Forty-two percent said they support the bill.

Poll authors also found a lack of support for a single-payer plan, a public health insurance option, taxing high-income people to cover the uninsured and a mandate that individuals have insurance. They cited previous surveys that showed slightly more support for those elements of reform.

“The question is whether the air is coming out of the balloon or it's just a matter of wedding-bell jitters,” said Dr. Ward Casscells, a UT-Houston administrator who created the poll and commissioned Zogby conduct it. “As health care's hour draws near, it's going to take leadership to convince a skeptical people that the legislation being considered is good for them, not just the uninsured.”

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The poll shows there is strong support for providing insurance for all Americans, but little for increasing taxes to pay for it. Increasing cigarette taxes was favored by 50 percent of respondents, the only tax option favored by at least half of respondents.

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This is a political problem for the Democrats and I think it will become an even bigger one if they pass the bill they are pushing. David Hirsayni asks if these proposals are so wonderful, why are only the rich having to pay for it. Good question.