Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 17, 2009 - Polls Show Most Think Health Costs Will Increase Under Dem Bills

The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 3082, the $133.9 billion fiscal year 2010 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill. At 11:30 AM, the Senate began a series of votes on amendments to the bill. Around 2:15 PM, the Senate will vote on an amendment from Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) which would prohibit funding to outfit prisons in the United States to house Guantanamo Bay detainees. Following a vote on the Inhofe amendment, senators will vote on final passage of the Milcon-VA bill. Also, the Senate will then begin consideration of the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals. After an hour of debate, the Senate will vote on cloture on his nomination.

Yesterday the Senate voted 93-0 to adopt an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to require that federal agency reports to congressional appropriations committees be posted online. By a vote of 24-69, the Senate rejected a motion from Coburn to shift funding from earmarks in the bill to an increase in funding for care for disabled veterans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expecting to get a score on costs for his health care reform bill sometime today. As Reid prepares his bill, two new polls are out today once again showing a lack of significant support for Democrats’ health care plans and a public ever-more skeptical of Democrat promises.

Today’s Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that most Americans don’t believe the Democrat health care plans will improve their health care or their insurance coverage; in fact, most say it will increase their health care costs. Most Americans, 52%, now believe their health care costs will actually increase, while only 11% believe their costs will go down as promised by proponents of the Democrat bills. An even greater number, 56%, believe the “overall costs of health care in this country” will go up while only 20% think they will go down if the Democrat bills are passed. By two to one, more Americans think their health care will get worse, 37% than better, 19%, while 42% expect no change. The 37% who think their health care will get worse under the Democrats plans is a record this year and ties the July 1994 poll, just months before President Bill Clinton’s plan was abandoned.

For the fourth straight month, more oppose (49%) than support (48%) “the heath care system being developed by Congress and the Obama administration.” This follows the pattern of other recent polls from the AP, Pew, and Gallup showing more Americans oppose the bills than support them. And it’s important to remember that not one national poll has shown a majority supports the health care plans proposed by the president and Democrats in Congress.   Once again, the most intense opinions about these health care plans are from those opposed to them, with about 40% strongly opposed. This is the same level seen in August.

Politico reports on another poll today, from Public Opinion Strategies. According to the poll, “opposition to President Obama’s health care plan is higher after the House vote than our previous tracks (29% favor / 40% oppose). Voters’ net opposition to the plan has increased from -6 percent in September to -11% today. Voter opposition to President Obama’s health care plan is higher than ever measured for President Clinton’s plan in 1993/1994 (35% oppose in June 1994).”

Even as we’re awaiting details on Harry Reid’s Senate plan, Americans have evaluated the plans they’ve seen from President Obama, Nancy Pelosi in the House, and the two Senate committees and shown their opposition. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday, “The American people are overwhelmingly telling us, ‘Don’t pass it.’ It will be up to whether the Democratic majority wants to listen to the American people or whether they want to pass this anyway just to basically ignore the opinion of the American population and go ahead with this bill.”

---

Tags: polls, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!