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Guess Who Wants to Talk Health Care in 2008? (The Answer May Surprise You) |
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The Kaiser Family Foundation has released its latest Election 2008 tracking poll, and not surprisingly, respondents listed health care as a top priority. According to the survey:
When asked about the two issues they would most like to hear the presidential candidates discuss, the top four issues overall are again Iraq (44 percent), health care (38 percent), the economy (18 percent), and immigration (12 percent)–the same four issues which have topped the poll since tracking began in March.
But what has changed since March is the percentage of Republicans who choose health care as a top issue.
Among Republicans, 30 percent name health care as one of the top two issues–the highest share recorded for that group since the tracking poll began in March 2007.
In the last poll in August, only 21 percent of Republicans listed health care as an issue they want to hear presidential candidates discuss. (See graph.)
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It’s good news for health advocates–and bad news for candidates of both parties who don’t make health care reform a top priority.
But wait, there’s more. Not only do voters want candidates to discuss health care, they want to see “major” plans for reform. According to the poll results:
On a separate question about the scope of plans they would like to hear about, roughly half the public (51 percent) says they want to see the presidential candidates propose a major effort to cover the uninsured, even if it is costly, with a quarter saying they would prefer to see a more limited plan and 15 percent voting to keep the status quo.
These results mirror the findings from a separate Kaiser poll on children’s health care released a week ago. In that poll, seven in 10 Americans backed the reauthorization of SCHIP (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program). And nearly two in three voters said they supported a congressional override of President Bush’s veto of SCHIP.
More importantly, a large majority of Americans said the government should be doing more, not less, to cover kids:
Two in three Americans (67 percent) think that the government is doing “too little” in providing health insurance to children who don’t have it. This includes a majority among men and women, among every age group, and among every income group.
The movement for health care reform continues to grow. Learn more about the AFL-CIO’s campaign for secure, high-quality health care here.
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HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act, is the answer.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 334 union organizations in 48 states including 93 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 25 state AFL-CIOs (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN & OR).
In addition to labor, numerous faith-based and community groups have also endorsed the bill.
Together, all the organizations that have endorsed HR 676 represent millions and millions of working class families.
Ironically, no large corporation has yet endorsed the bill. That is nearly unimaginable considering that corporate America would be saving billions upon billions of dollars if HR 676 was the law of the land today. When we look a bit deeper, however, we discover the true reasons behind their recalcitrance. “Cross-pollination” of corporate America has CEOs from one company sitting on the Boards of Directors of other companies, and vice versa. Their one inferred duty? “Do no harm” [to one another].
There you have it!
So who is your Member of Congress representing? The tens of millions of folks like you and me, or the tens of millions of dollars that the health care industry rains down on them via campaign contributions…and other “perks”? (If your Member of Congress refuses to endorse HR 676, you know the answer!)
To find out who the 86 House Members are (all Democrats!) who have endorsed HR 676, go to Healthcare-NOW.org, or UFHC.org.
P.S. Kucinich is the only presidential candidate supporting
HR 676.
Yes over 330 labor organizations across the nation, the Board of Church & Society of the United Methodist Church, Physicians For A National Health Program, Latinos For A National Health Insurance, the Progressive Democrats of America, Michael Moore, have all endorsed H.R. 676! Yet this means little to the so called leadership of labor, the democratic party, etc. These folks are stuck with the likes of Clinton and/or Edwards both of whom are owned by the healthcare corporations!
What is needed is a third party that does not accept corporate funding and whose sole purpose is to support working people’s interests!
The entire system needs to be revamped. People with disabilities have to fight for Social Security only to have a 6 month wait before cash benefits kick in then another 24 months before Medicare kicks in. In addition the high risk pools in the States contribute to the higher cost of overall health insurance premiums. Individuals are forced to go uninsured and/or pay exhorbitant prices for individual health insurance policies and their portion of employer sponsored plans. We need Work Comp Reform and Whistleblower protection so that government employees can perform their jobs well to help consumers. The deep pockets and beaurocrats use their influence and power in ways that are not appropriate!
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