Public Health Insurance Option Wins Strong Support

February 05, 2009

A new poll released by the Health Care for America Now coalition shows broad public support for including a public health insurance plan as part of comprehensive health care reform. According to the poll, 73 percent of voters support having a choice of a public health insurance plan as part of health care reform. The advantage? It will lower costs, improve quality, and increase competition – a good deal all around.

“Voters believe a public health insurance plan option will increase competition, contain costs, and help control the cost of health care. They believe it will give private insurers incentives to control their costs and become more efficient, not less.”

According to a study by Jacob Hacker of the University of California Berkeley School of Law's Center on Health, Economic & Family Security, with this type of health care reform, we can save $1 trillion over ten years and improve the quality of care. That’s why a public health insurance plan that competes directly with private insurers has wide support. There’s universal agreement in our country today that health care costs are not only a huge economic issue but one of the top economic concerns of American families. Health insurance premiums are going up three times faster than pay, and many working families are shouldering a growing – and unfair – share of the costs. This is an untenable situation. We must bring change to how we approach health care in our country right now. We can’t afford to wait any longer.