This Gallup poll is, I think, the best window into the public opinion challenge facing health reform:
Basically, people see this as a bill that will take resources from people who have health insurance and give it to people who don’t have health insurance. Since most voters have health insurance, that creates a climate of skepticism.
And this has really been the uphill climb from the beginning. Progressives—ranging from single-payer advocates to centrist technocrats—all have a variety of visions of systematic change we’d like to impose on the system. But most people with private insurance are happy with the insurance they have until they get sick. And most people have insurance. And most non-elderly people are pretty healthy. And the elderly have a nice single-payer system all set up for them already. Under the circumstances, persuading people to be broad-minded and expand these benefits to everyone is a bit of a tough sell. But the polling on health reform, while not great, isn’t so bad anymore.
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