Posts
As Amy Goodman of Democracy Now reports the mainstream media is covering only one side of the story. The media is telling us only that the people want to stay in the employer insurance plans they already have, that they are demanding a choice of plans. There is no acknowledgement that the public has already made its choice of single-payer known earlier this year. The media ignores the real issues and misreports the fact that the people are demanding choices free of insurance company meddling which often results in surprise denials of coverage when the supposedly insured is weakest in ability to fight back.
It is easy to see that the silence of the media creates a void which allows the Republican noise machine to make up illusions that Americans are satisfied with the care they are getting without asking the hard questions that would provoke doubt about whether that company will be there for them when the chips are down.
Former DNC Chair Dr. Howard Dean in an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow strongly supported President Obama's plan that contains a public option. Dean maintained that the American people want choice, that they don't want to be told what to do. Governor Dean even said he believed that the supporters of HR 676 Single-payer healthcare should be heard. Then astoundingly he said that that big of a segment of American public opinion which he estimated to be about 15% should have been seated at the table at Senate Finance Committee hearings. Watch the video
Physicians for a National Health Care Plan cite statistics that show solid majorities of both physicians and the public favoring a single payer plan.
The polls below indeed show solid popular support for single-payer. That's why the brave doctors and nurses risked arrest to tell the truth that Congress is denying the majority of Americans who support single-payer health care a seat at the table. They believe creative civil disobedience is the only way to tell Americans the truth, that the health care industry owns Congress. Up to now Congress has just ignored pleas and letters. To take back ownership, this increasingly powerful coalition of doctors, healthcare workers and their supporters are aiming for at least a million Americans to add their voices to the rising clamor for an affordable public plan modeled on Medicare for All when they confront the congresspeople who represent them. Citizens of Congressional District 8 have an opportunity to speak up at the Healthcare Town Hall to be hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords May 26. For details see May events listing on the right. Rep. Raul Grijalva is a co-sponsor of the Single Payer Medicare for All bill, HR, 676.
Posted by Sandra Spangler
From Sustainable Middle Class Blog
May 10th, 2009
Two major polls taken earlier this year show strong support for a single-payer health plan, or at least the concept of a strong government roll in lowering costs and covering all Americans. The polls are listed at PollingReport.com. The two polls are summarized below, with the polling question presented to respondents, followed by the results.
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Feb. 18-19, 2009. N=1,046 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“In general, would you favor or oppose a program that would increase the federal government’s influence over the country’s health care system in an attempt to lower costs and provide health care coverage to more Americans?”
Favor: 72%
Oppose: 27%
Unsure: 1%
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Jan. 11-15, 2009. N=1,112 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“Should the government in Washington provide national health insurance, or is this something that should be left only to private enterprise?”
Government: 59%
Private Enterprise: 32%
Unsure: 9%
Watch for an upcoming article about Arizona's chapter of Physicians for National Health Care.
