Breaking Down Health Care Opinion Polls

The media is trying very hard to give legs to the notion that Obama has a "silent majority" out there that approves of his ideas of socialized health care. It is rather interesting that writers keep coming back to Nixonisms when they speak of Obama. I suppose that is improvement over seeing him as either Lincoln or the Messiah.

You have to think about these polls and what is asked. The question can skew the result. If I asked 10,000 random people if health care in the United States needs reformed, a solid majority would say "yes." However, if you dig a little deeper the differences emerge in the details. Some want full socialism, some want a government option. Most want to keep the whole system private. Many support tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and lower costs. Quite a few want to find ways to decrease free use of the system by illegal aliens. Many have proposed changing regulations to encourage pooling by small business owners. Most support getting rid of the "pre-existing condition" cluase from health insurance. You won't find many people defending that little detail. Just asking if you support reforming the health care system includes all of these different positions.

This only indicates that health care reform is a big tent issue. Most want to see changes. That does not mean that people want the radical plans and unconstitutional requirements now floated around by left wingers. Create small business pools, pass tort reform, get rid of the restrictions on pre-existing conditions, and keep the government out. That is what Americans want; that is what they ought to get.