The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Some folks are just too dangerous to themselves with information.

I noticed over the past few days folks trumpeting the recent NY Times article “In Poll, Wide Support for Government-Run Health”. What many of these commentators refuse to highlight is something that is buried beyond dang headline.

“Yet the survey also revealed considerable unease about the impact of heightened government involvement, on both the economy and the quality of the respondents’ own medical care. While 85 percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, 77 percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their own care.”

Also, “While the survey results depict a nation desperate for change, it also reveals a deep wariness of the possible consequences. Half to two-thirds of respondents said they worried that if the government guaranteed health coverage, they would see declines in the quality of their own care and in their ability to choose doctors and get needed treatment.”

How can the same report state that there is “considerable unease about the impact of heightened government involvement” and later “indicate growing confidence in the government’s ability to manage health care”? That’s like saying that someone is wary about using a gunshot to the head to get rid of a headache, but they are confident that it will do the job.

Stop running with the headline and READ people.

Another poll being overlooked~

“Forty-four percent (44%) of Americans say the Obama administration should wait on health care reform until the economy improves.
But 43% say health care reform should move ahead now, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 10,000 adults nationwide. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure which course is best.”

The Rasmussen poll uses a pool of 10,000 people while the NY Times poll used only 895 adults.