PrintAmerican satisfaction with their health care coverage growing
Even as Harry Reid schemes yet another Saturday Night Massacre of the nation's health care system, Gallup reports that Americans are happier with health care coverage than at any time since they started asking the question. The polling firm also says that public approval of the quality of the country's health care is near an all-time high.
Gallup reported this week that 38% of Americans rate national health care coverage as 'Good' or 'Excellent.' That's up from only 26% a year ago.
Only about one quarter of the people Gallup asked, 28%, said coverage in the U.S. was 'Poor.' A vast majority, 70%, rated health care coverage from Fair to Excellent.
And the percentage of folks who said health care coverage was Good or Excellent increased in the last year among Republicans, Independents--and even Democrats. This, despite the concerted assault by the Pelosi-Reid-Obama troika, and their media lapdogs, to paint the health care system as irretrievably broken.
Additionally, 58% rate the quality of the country's healthcare as Good or Excellent.
As is usually the case, folks like their own health care situations much better.
Sixty Nine percent told Gallup their personal health care coverage is Good or Excellent. Eighty One percent say the quality of their own, personal health care is Good or Excellent. Sixty Two percent even say they are happy with the amount of money they pay for their health care.
As to national health care costs, Gallup notes:
Though there continues to be widespread dissatisfaction with the total costs of healthcare in the U.S., there has been an increase in satisfaction since last year, from 19% to 26%. This is the most positive rating since 28% said they were satisfied in 2001.
Nevertheless, Gallup, somehow contorts these figures--apparently parsing "Only Fair" as a negative rating--to rationalize Democrats' health care power grab:
As the intensity of the healthcare debate has increased over the past year, Americans' evaluations of healthcare coverage and the cost of healthcare in the U.S. have grown more positive. Still, even with the improved ratings, much less than a majority of Americans are positive in their overall evaluations of each. This fact would seem to provide sufficient justification to reform the system, though Gallup finds support for healthcare legislation lagging.
Huh? Using such Obamaesque twists of logic, and language, Democrats' 'reform' is quickly becoming the health care equivalent of a "man-made disaster."
What Gallups' results actually show is that public satisfaction with the current healthcare system has increased in the last year: the more folks learn about the changes--and costs--of what Dems are planning, the more they appreciate what they've already got.
