Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Whichever way the wind blows

Slate speculates on "Why the Washington Post is hyping the public option." They cite three reasons for the above-the-fold story about a small uptick in support for government-run healthcare: to remind Congress of majority support, reporters are "momentum junkies" and to suggest there's been a backlash against the insurance companies.

If you read the wording of the poll, the "public option" question asks if respondents would support a plan to compete with private insurers. Well, Americans love competition, so hey - why not? It's really the most superficial kind of question for a policy loaded with unintended (and expensive) consequences. Would the public option still have this level of support if it leads to health-care rationing like in the Massachusetts model? I'd imagine not.

More eyebrow-raising in the poll is question #16: "Do you think health care reform would increase the federal budget deficit, decrease it, or have no effect?" A solid 68% of Americans think that Obama is full of it when he insists healthcare reform will be "deficit neutral." And the ten percent who think the deficit will go down are clearly delusional.

No comments: