How of much of that fear of being covered by a government plan is actual satisfaction with their coverage, and how much of it is reflexive fear of being personally covered by 'inefficient government'?

I also have to wonder how many of those satisfied with their coverage have actually had to find care under it outside of check-ups, considering the nightmare stories of people immediately abandoned by insurance and care providers the moments they actually need to rely on it for medical care.

The same poll also showed that despite the public's embrace of creating a public plan, only 28 percent of those polled said they would choose to be covered by such a program.

I think we should have a public plan, but I wouldn't voluntarily give up my employer-provided plan to participate in it.

I suspect that a significant fraction of the "support" vs "would use" disparity comes from people in my situation. I don't really know if this is the case because I don't know how the poll-takers asked the question. That's why I don't give a lot of credence to the results of polls.

If one simply polled the 40+ percent of people with NO health insurance if THEY would deign to use the public option? Something tells me that ALL of them would, making me question this aspect of the poll...

If the percentage of people open to a public option held nationally providing said option were made available, we're talking tens of millions of people. I don't have the data available, but what is the percentage of Americans who are either uninsured or underinsured? Perhaps this meshes well with that group.

...that Americans have "trepidation" about using a public plan. Many people may recognize that a public plan would be good for the country and good for other people, even if they don't need or want to use it themselves. To assume this indicates a that they are sending some sort of mixed message is a big leap.

No one's going to be able to decide whether to sign up for it or not until it's in existence anyway...

there is no plan. The only people I here saying they are against t a public plan are rightward republicans, government workers already in public plan, or those under 50 who work for corporations.

What is the difference in paying premiums to a public plan and a private plan? Private plans already limit coverage. The insurance companies decide who gets coverage not doctors, not patients.

They must be polling government employees --because most Americans have ZERO confidence in government managing anything, let alone our healthcare! Just look at how well managed the VA centers are, and Medicare and Medicaid. Anyone who considers government's track record can make the right decision.

Until Obama's crew puts together a comprehensive plan on how

they will drastically Reduce "current" healthcare costs immediately, and then how they will continue to reduce costs over the years ---Congress should keep voting Against whatever pie-in-the-sky ideas they come up with. Obama reminds me of a child: "I want, I want, I want"; "I have to have this", but he has not shown us any grown-up, adult, "viable" plan on how to pay for this so far., or how to drastically reduce our current costs. Americans will not be happy if they end up paying more than they already are between healthcare premiums and taxes. It would be interesting to know what the average government employee pays for health insurance, also.

My employer still pays through the nose and all we get is a 1750.00 deductible for a single person or 3500.00 for family coverage. Every year there's a huge increase in premiums or in the deductible.

Family members on "tricare for life" government provided health care love it. They use whatever doctor they want and everything's covered. Because of this great coverage and regular checkups my Mother's cancer was caught very early and she made a complete recovery.

Frankly, if she was on my insurance my mother would be dead.

"Government can't run anything."

Therefore the Marines must really suck and are the worst fighting force in the world. The FBI is full of stupid, dishonest people, etc. The politicians who make their living driving government into the ground are the very same ones who live at the public trough, including their fabulous health care coverage.

The American public is brainwashed (if they aren't then how come someone like Bush could get elected TWICE?) They don't travel, so they don't see how other countries like France, for example, provide health care. They watch TV; that's how they get their news - which is worse than nothing at all.

This logic is so full of crap that's it's ludicrous. The problems at Walter Reed were the result of bureaucrats underfunding and neglecting the quality of care, not a function of the structure of how that care is paid for. Complete idiocy and illogic!!

I'd give up my employer provided plan in a heartbeat. Our insurance carrier jacked up the premium on our old PPO-based plan so high that the company got conned into an HSA-based plan. Our monthly premium didn't decline appreciably from what it had been - it just didn't go up as drastically as it would have under the PPO plan. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, an HSA plan means that you have a monthly premium combined with a deductible so high that you can't actually afford any kind of health care. A routine checkup is $150 and any kind of prescription is twice that.

By the way, that insurance carrier is Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina - the one that pays its CEO $12.8 million per annum and is a major donor to the effort to defeat the public option.

... most Americans have ZERO confidence in government managing anything, let alone our healthcare!

And we can be completely 100% confident of that because you said it.

However, it's irrelevant what Americans think of the government's ability to do anything. What is relevant is whether or not they think the government would be any better or worse than a privately-run for-profit insurer. The government might have an edge here because most Americans probably realize that the for-profit insurers will provide as little actual medical care as they can possibly get away with. Many Americans have unfortunate person experience with this.