On the Street: Majority Favor Public Option for Health Care

The Lake County Democrats held a fundraiser downtown during Madison's Crazy Days last Friday. While selling yummy homemade bread, bars, and shopping bags (thanks, Bonnie!), we also conducted an opinion poll. With 32 self-selecting respondents, our poll has the statistical significance of the broad side of a barn, but the results are still interesting.

We asked folks to identify their political affiliation (Dem, GOP, Indep, or other). We then asked this simple question:

Do you want Congress to include a public option in its health care legislation?

A few folks asked what we meant by public option, and we explained that it meant the federal government would offer health insurance policies on the market alongside private insurers. You could buy your health coverage from Uncle Sam, DakotaCare, Blue Cross, whichever.

88% of our respondents said yes, they want a public option. Only three people—one Republican, one Independent, one other—said no. Even on Libertarian who dropped by said yes to a public option, as long as it competes on the market with private insurance rather than replacing private insurance.

Congress is working on health care reform right now: see H.R. 3200 for the House version. Read up, decide what you want in health care reform, and then contact your Congresspeople!