Mike said:
You're a lowdown, lying sack of crap.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
The truth hurts, doesn't it? The "threat" of government insurance is losing it's edge. Like the "threat" of terrorists blowing up the country, people are getting over it.
"Democrats enjoy a big political advantage over Republicans on health care, a year before a U.S. election in which it's going to be a major issue.
Americans, by a more than 2-to-1 margin, say Democratic presidential candidates have better overall solutions to health- care questions than do Republicans, according to a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll.
Presidential candidates of both parties have placed the issue at the top of their agendas amid growing voter concern about health costs -- rising at about double the annual rate of wages -- and the 47 million people who lack insurance.
Americans also back Democrats when presented with specific plans to deal with these issues: Just over half those surveyed say they favor requiring everyone to buy insurance; barring insurers from turning people down or charging extra for medical reasons; and subsidizing those who can't afford coverage. Those proposals have been offered by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
`It's important to help people who can't buy insurance on their own,'' said Pearl Stephenson, 58, a
Republican in Oak Park, Michigan, in a follow-up interview. ``I'm a retired Detroit teacher, so I have my health insurance, but it's a problem in America. It would influence who I vote for.''
People who identify themselves as Democrats overwhelmingly back their party's candidates, with more than eight out of 10 saying they have the best ideas on health issues. Four out of 10 independents like the Democrats' proposals, while just 15 percent of independents favor those of Republicans. About six in 10 Republicans favor the plans put forward by their party's candidates.
Across Party Lines
Support for proposals by Democratic candidates crossed party lines.
Almost half of Republicans surveyed say they like the idea of requiring large businesses to either offer insurance to their workers or pay a tax to help cover the costs of those who can't afford it on their own, a plan put forth by Clinton, 59, Edwards, 54, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, 46. More than seven out of 10 Democrats and more than six out of 10 independents support that approach.
Americans back Democrats' ideas partly because the Republicans haven't been as detailed in their proposals, said Jason Furman, director of the Hamilton Project policy initiative at Brookings Institution, a Washington research group.
`Front and Center'
Democratic candidates have ``put the issue front and center in the campaign,'' said Furman, a former aide in President Bill Clinton's administration.
The poll of 1,209 adults was taken Oct. 19-22. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Forty-four percent of those surveyed supported a core health-care proposal by Republican candidates: tax credits to make insurance more affordable without limiting the ability of insurance companies' to decide who they cover and at what charge.
Republican candidates including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 63, Senator John McCain, 71, of Arizona and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, 60, have incorporated similar suggestions in their proposals. Instead of expanding the government's role in providing or monitoring health insurance, their plans rely on markets to bring costs down and give people more choice and tax credits to help them afford coverage.
Fear Losing Coverage
Employer-provided health benefits cover about half the people in the U.S., according to a 2007 survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Those who have to buy insurance on their own may face higher costs or difficulties getting coverage if they have pre-existing medical problems.
Among those surveyed in the Bloomberg/L.A. Times poll, 13 percent say they or someone in their household is staying in a job they don't want because they fear losing health coverage. This concern was expressed by 11 percent of those making more than $100,000, and 15 percent of those making less than $40,000.
``You might not be able to get another job that offered benefits and it can be more expensive to get on your own,'' said Arlene Thorne, 53, from Port Chester, New York, who works as an administrator for a company and has a household income of more than $100,000. ``The health system doesn't work. There's nothing more to say about it.''
Fifty-three percent of respondents say they support a government-run, government-financed national health program to cover all Americans.
Clinton and Edwards have both proposed creating a national health plan to compete with private insurance plans, with Edwards saying this would be a way to test what sort of system Americans preferred.
Republican candidates reject that idea.
Among Democrats, 64 percent like the idea of a government- organized and financed health program, as did 51 percent of independents and 30 percent of Republicans."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601073&sid=aGV2_yJZeRb0&refer=election