Happy With Health Insurance?

One hears repeatedly that 85 percent of Americans are “happy” with their health insurance. So why do we need health insurance reform? Well, the 85 percent figure is a phony, misleading statistic. It does not mean that 85 percent of all Americans are delighted with their health insurance and that a disgruntled 15 percent of the American people are the only ones who want to change our health insurance laws; far from it.

In the first place, the pollsters questioned only people covered by health insurance. The 85 percent of people who are happy does not include the 47 million people who have no health insurance. Those people certainly are not “happy” with their health insurance. Moreover, 15 percent of the people who have health insurance are not “happy” with their coverage. In addition, all of the polls giving the 85 percent figure include people on Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-run plans. According to Gallup, approximately 22-33 percent of the respondents in the polls are on Medicare or Medicaid. Of course those people are satisfied with their health insurance. The Census Bureau tells us that in 2008, only 66.7 percent of the people polled had private health insurance--and that number is going down rapidly because thousands of businesses are dropping it as a benefit of employment.

So it is not 85 percent of all Americans that are happy with their private health insurance. Do the math. When you subtract all of the people who are unhappy with their private health insurance, all of the people who have no insurance, and all of the people on Medicare etc., you come out with about 18 percent of Americans who are happy with their private health insurance. That is a long way from the dishonest figure of 85 percent.

If 85 percent of Americans were “happy” with health insurance, you can be sure that there would be no support for enactment of health insurance reform with a public option. But a new study by SurveyUSA finds that the public supports enactment of a public option by 77 percent. In a June 2009 survey, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 76 percent of those questioned favored a public option. Why such high percentages if 85 percent are happy with their health insurance? Why such high percentages if the controversy over health care reform has supposedly destroyed President Obama’s approval ratings?

According to a new CBS News/New York Times poll out September 24, 2009, President Obama’s approval rating is 56 percent. An October 1, 2009, Gallup Poll gives the President a 54 percent approval rating. By my arithmetic, that is a majority. When you consider the fact that he was elected with only 52 percent, and when you consider the hammering he has taken from the health insurance industry, the Republicans in Congress, Fox News fanatics, talk radio morons, town hall screamers, and tea party lunatics, he is still doing pretty well.

Compare the President’s approval rating to the ratings given to House Minority Gasbag John Boehner, Senate Minority Claghorn, Mitch McConnell, and the Republicans in Congress. According to a September Harris Poll, Boehner and McConnell each received an 18 percent approval rating. The Republicans in Congress got a 27 percent approval rating, while 70 percent disapproved. In a September CBS News/New York Times Poll, the Republicans in Congress received a 30 percent approval rating.

It is, of course, no surprise that the vast majority of Americans disapprove of the Republicans in Congress. The Republicans are fighting on the side of health insurance companies to deny Americans any health care reform at all. The public knows that President Obama is trying to do something to improve health insurance and health care in America. They know that the Republicans are doing nothing.