Pew Poll: 67% favor repealing Bush tax cuts to provide Health Insurance

[CMT]

This is significant because it will be a major issue next year--Health Care. According to the Pew Poll released yesterday, "Two-thirds of the public (67%) favors the government guaranteeing health care for all citizens even if it means repealing most of the recent tax cuts. Significantly, just as many Americans say they want the government to provide universal health coverage even if it means raising taxes."

Here is the question: Gurantee Health Insurance Even if it Means...
Repealing the Tax cuts
Favor 67%
Oppose 26%
Don't Know 7%

Republicans even favor this by 50/45 percent. Democrats favor it 82/13 percent. Independents by a 67-27 percent margin.

**This is significant because all of our candidates have advocated repealing all or a part of the Bush Tax cuts. Dean is on record as wanting to repeal the entire tax cuts and going back to Clinton era levels and using the money for deficit reduction and health care. This proves that the public will support this as long as the reason is sound.

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=190 (you'll have to move down towards the end of the report)

[tedoll78]

1. I know one thing..

Dr Howard Dean has to be smiling at this lil' beauty!

[caledesi]

9. Was just thinking the same thing.

[ibegurpard]

2. That's fine but

that was an issue that Bill Clinton ran on and all it took was a massive infusion of money from the insurance industry to completely change public opinion. We have to be ready for that and hit back just as hard.

[MercutioATC]

4. Insurance companies won't be a problem this time

Dean's system is an expansion of Medicaid and FEHBP, not single-payer. The insurance companies still do what they do now.

...which is my biggest reason for liking Dean's plan. Clinton showed how difficult (impossible, maybe) it is to get a single-payer system through Congress. Dean's plan won't have that obstacle.

[StandWatie]

5. I don't think it could work again

it depended on a bunch of fearmongering about not being able to choose your own doctor and waiting lists and a bunch of other stuff that wound up happening anyway through HMO's.

How are you going to run scare tactics about things that good ole capitalist medicine already gave you at incredible prices?

[ewagner]

3. A leg to stand on

This information should give all our candidates (who support health insurance for all) a leg to stand on in the campaigns.

It also will provide some "backbone" for those who have been timid in supporting health care for all.

[revcarol]

6. Yes, DK's plan is very popular!!

The public has had it with reduced service, higher rates, and 20-30% going to "administration!!"

[UTUSN]

7. Oh. Thought It Said 67% Wanted to Repeal SHRUB. n/t

[UrbScotty]

8. Well, at this rate, that could be true come November 2004.

Okay, maybe not 67%, but hey, that's the way he's heading.

[gulliver]

10. That's good info

I think people are starting to worry about the long term job market. A catastrophic illness during a period of unemployment could be ruinous. Everyone but the "cotillion conservatives" sees that. It's funny that they say the Democratic coalition is shaky, when it is both bigger than the Republican coalition and probably growing stronger.

[David Zephyr]

11. And Kerry & Lieberman Attacked Dean's Call to Repeal Bush's Taxcuts

Here's just another example of Howard Dean standing up for the obvious, being attacked for it by Democrats, and then the game coming to him.

First the war, and now the tax cuts.

Any wonder why Dean continues to solidify his grip on the Party's nomination?

[JanMichael]

12. Run all the way to the WH with that!

Better yet? Take back Congress with a REAL agenda.

Health! Who's against it?!

[blondeatlast]

13. This issue WILL put a Democrat in the White House.

As the job market slips, people are scared of what a job loss will do to their health insurance, and COBRA is too damn expensive for most families and too short-term.

Go Dems--I don't care which one at this point as long as you hammer theis issue!

[burr]

14. Those damned liberals!!!

They get it right everytime. :hippie:

[w4rma]

15. Look to what Harry Truman put in the 1948 Democratic Party platform

...
Look to what Harry Truman put in the 1948 Democratic Party platform: Health insurance for everybody. We need to stand up for ourselves again and take on the President directly.
...
http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/000954.html

Dean: Promoting American Health
...
For a year now, I have been traveling this country advocating a repeal of Bush's tax cuts so that we can provide universal healthcare and restore fiscal discipline. Many have questioned the political wisdom of challenging the president on politically popular tax cuts.

I believe, however, that given a choice between having health insurance or keeping all of the Bush's tax cuts in place, most Americans will choose health insurance. My plan will cost $88.3 billion -- less than half of the president's tax cut -- with money left over to pay down the deficits run up by this administration.

My plan consists of four major components.

First, and most important, in order to extend health coverage to every uninsured child and young adult up to age 25, we'll redefine and expand two essential federal and state programs -- Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Right now, they only offer coverage to children from lower-income families. Under my plan, we cover all kids and young adults up to age 25 -- middle income as well as lower income. This aspect of my plan will give 11.5 million more kids and young adults access to the healthcare they need.

Second, we'll give a leg up to working families struggling to afford health insurance. Adults earning up to 185% of the poverty level -- $16,613 -- will be eligible for coverage through the already existing Children Health Insurance Program. By doing this, an additional 11.8 million people will have access to the care they need.

Many working families have incomes that put them beyond the help offered by government programs. But this doesn't mean they have viable options for healthcare. We'll establish an affordable health insurance plan people can buy into, providing coverage nearly identical to what members of Congress and federal employees receive.

To cushion the costs, we'll also offer a significant tax credit to those with high premium costs. By offering this help, another 5.5 million adults will have access to care.

Third, we need to recognize that one key to a healthy America is making healthcare affordable to small businesses.We shouldn't turn our back on the employer-based system we have now, but neither should we simply throw money at it. We need to modernize the system so employers will have an option beyond passing rising costs on to workers or bailing out of the system entirely. Fortunately, we have a model of efficient, affordable and user-friendly healthcare coverage: the federal employee health system.

With the plan I've put forth to the American people, we'll organize a system nearly identical to the one federal workers and members of Congress enjoy. And we'll enable all employers with less than 50 workers to join it at rates lower than are currently available to these companies -- provided they insure their work force. I'll also offer employers a deal: The federal government will pick up 70% of COBRA premiums for employees transitioning out of their jobs, but we'll expect employers to pay the cost of extending coverage for an additional two months. These two months are often the difference between workers finding the health coverage they need, or joining the ranks of the uninsured.

Finally, to ensure that the maximum number of American men, women and children have access to healthcare, we must address corporate responsibility. There are many corporations that could provide healthcare to their employees but choose not to. The final element of this plan is a clear, strong message to corporate America that providing health coverage is fundamental to being a good corporate citizen. I look at business tax deductions as part of a compact between American taxpayers and corporate America. We give businesses certain benefits, and expect them to live up to certain responsibilities.
...
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_statement_health

[Clete]

16. I would really like to get excited about this, but

the polls were the same a decade ago. Clinton got elected, and tried to make good on his promise to get universal health care. Within two years the public relations ghoul machine for the corporate health care industry had done their job, trashing the health plan Hillary Clinton had put forth, throwing out a media propaganda campaign that convinced all the people that it was a terrible thing that would rob them of their health care insurance and that they would be as health care deprived as those poor British, Canadians and others with socialized medicine.

Our health care was, after all, so superior. What they neglected to tell the gullible was that it was also selective and only for those who could afford it. The Republicans made inroads in Congress with this new lie about anything propaganda and I don't think it will be any different this time. I just hope the voters will be smarter.