A Public Plan: Three-Quarters Want To Have That Choice

The issue, of course, is whether the results of having a public plan will be all that popular.
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And what would be those results?
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By the way, what is the average profit margin of a big healthcare insurance provider?

This could pose a big problem for the politicians. Who do they listen to, the people who finance their campaigns, or the people who vote for them? Second, they have to reassess how stupid they think the general public is, a public that obviously understands the benefits of single payer, including lower costs. However, I suppose we will continue to hear from the bought and paid for politicians, who will try to explain why single-payer is no good, because it would be too popular.

Here is the TIME snap poll from a few days ago:
http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_387.html
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63% chose the Federal Government over private industry.
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I guess, in a topsy-turvy world where rusty the Neo-Nazi gets top billing on the politics page, Kaiser is the prime mover in health care reform, and Baucus calls the shots in timing, you would think that the GOP won the election!
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Has anyone noticed that they didn't?
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At least on these issues, I feel I have a bit more in common with the Iranians supporting Mousavi.
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WHERE IS MY VOTE?

Derek, perhaps, then President Obama could explain. This is comical:
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/06/gibbs_cant_name_a_country_wher_1.asp

Who do they listen to, the people who finance their campaigns, or the people who vote for them?
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The former?

This is a surprise? I will play armchair Luntz and guess which constituencies would think that a public option would be "extremely" or "quite" important:
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1. People who are presently uninsured (and likely believe a public option would cover them).
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2. People who want to change jobs but don't want to lose their health insurance.
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3. People who have health insurance through their job but are afraid of being laid off.
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4. People with a pre-existing medical condition that fear their health insurer may try to screw them over.
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5. People who have insurance they presently can't afford.
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I'd guess that adds up to about 76% of the population.
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What part of the word CRISIS do people not understand? Is it a surprise that, when faced with a CRISIS, the public would consider it to be "extremely" or "quite" important to have OPTIONS?

spob:
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By the way, what is the average profit margin of a big healthcare insurance provider?
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I believe I covered that in this post, but here it is again:

CNNMoney.com/FORTUNE 500
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Top industries: Most profitable
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Industry Rank: 1
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Industry: Network and Other Communications Equipment
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 28.8

Industry Rank: 2
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Industry: Mining, Crude-Oil Production
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 23.8

Industry Rank: 3
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Industry: Pharmaceuticals
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 15.8

Industry Rank: 4
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Industry: Medical Products and Equipment
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 15.2

Industry Rank: 5
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Industry: Oil and Gas Equipment, Services
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 13.7

Industry Rank: 6
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Industry: Commercial Banks
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 12.6

Industry Rank: 7
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Industry: Railroads
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 12.4

Industry Rank: 8
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Industry: Entertainment
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 12.4

Industry Rank: 9
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Industry: Insurance: Life, Health (stock)
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 10.6

Of all the major industries, Fortune 500 Health insurers were ranked ninth in profitability, with a slightly over 10 percent margin of profit to revenues.
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The objective facts are that the health insurance industry as it currently exists is comfortably --approaching wildly-- profitable, almost on par with pre-crash commercial bank margins.

BTW:
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Can I be a journalist?

This is comical:
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Hey, spob,
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Know what I find "hilarious"? The lady whose coverage was rescinded after she was treated for cancer, so tthey didn't have to pay for her treatment. That's a real "knee-slapper".
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How about the employees who were given bonuses and congratulated on their ability to save the company money by cancelling these policies? I'm still in stitches over that . . .
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Or the high comedy of the insurance execs who would not promise to stop cancelling the policies of clients who did not commit fraud, just to save the company money and "up" the bottom line.
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Just.Freaking.Hilarious.

53 -
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AYE, an' Amen t' tha' me hearty!
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YARR!

You know what?
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I can be a reporter!
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I posted an error that deserves immediate correction:
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The previous post is a table of Life/Health insurance as opposed to "managed care health insurance", which would accurately describe the industry in question.
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Let me assemble another table (damn you Swampland!!) that actually answers spob's question, and I'll post again shortly.

spob, Gibb's failure to know this subject is really unacceptable. BUt is is good to see that Healthcare CEOs Shoot Themselves in the Foot. Keep those guys out there, and it won't matter what Gibbs fails to know.
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sz - yes, you can.

Hey pirate lady. I just got back from vacation in Puerto Rico - and my 20 year old daughter got a pretty much for real tricorner pirate hat. Way cool.

SA -
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YEA - Ye MUST! Lord be knowin' thar be few enough "real" journos out thar - KT special aside on this issue - so feel free t' step into th' breach!
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Arrgh!

wvng - DA*N! I were beggin' an' pleadin' fer th' cap'n t' get me picture taken in full pirate regalia a' th' pirate/bandit museum in Ronda, bu' 'e, bein' a bit put off by th' amount o' rioja I were consumin' a' dinner, were refusin' and steerin' me instead back t' th' hotel fer a bit o' wenchin .
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I be regrettin' it (missin' th' picture - I be always happy t' oblige th' cap'n in th' wenchin' department) still!
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Arrgh!

Spob's comments are Exhibit A of why the GOP is so out of touch on this issue.
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Again, we are facing a health care crisis in this country in terms of both costs and coverage. If the GOP chooses to address the crisis like adults and treat the issue with the seriousness that it deserves, then the public may start to take them seriously again.
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But if the GOP continues to engage in cheap-shot, snarky attacks on reformers' plans (and that is all this "gotcha" comment about Gibbs is), the American people are going to continue to throw their collective hands up and the GOP will continue down the path of irrelevance.

"Asked whether a health care overhaul should give people a choice of both private insurance and a plan administered by the government, three-quarters rated it quite or extremely important"
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So what? As KT has explained over and over
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"and the biggest reason that single payer isn't being debated is that congressional leaders (even those who support it) don't think it could pass. again, this is something i have written about before, and i refer you to bernie sanders' own explanation,"
Karen Tumulty Says:
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 8:41 am
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The toughest thing in the Beltway is changing the accepted script.

KT you are absolutely right that the public is supportive of the public option. And while I don't doubt that pollsters told you they were surprised by the results, I find that surprising, since good polling has been indicating public support for the measure for sometime.
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Too bad the broader media insists on going off on these predictable tangents. According to them polls showing a 5 point difference in Obama's approval has gone from being a blip to a dip to plummeting in a matter of 24 hours. However, they are in the business of reporting controversy and from that prospective ginning up concern and anxiety, however unwarranted is increasingly more the purpose than an unintended consequence.
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But let's not join these folks going over the edge. Polls have limitations, one of which is that the public can hold an unending number of competing views that make perfectly good sense in a qualitative format, and can be cherry picked to death in a poll.
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For the record: Voters can be concerned about deficits and still be optimistic about the economic future.
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Voters can want a public plan on health care and be concerned about government intervention.
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Voters can be less confident about a policy they have no expertise in and still trust the person handling the policy.
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Too bad the irresponsible media is more interested in maintaining a platform for the GOP, an integral component for adversarial journalism, than they are in finding out what the public really wants and why.

All it be takin' be fer one 'r two hi'-profile TeeVee "reporters" t' choose th' alternate scenario an' run wi' it long an' hard - bu' tha'd be bitin' th' hand what feeds 'em, so I don't be expectin' it.
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YARR!

No one, least of all me, is defending bogus termination of health care insurance coverage. The bottom line is that contracts are meant to be enforced, and there are plenty of doctrines in general contract law (let alone insurance regulatory law) that would preclude these issues.
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But policies should not be made on anecdotes. Perhaps, just perhaps, the real solution is to focus on people who have "played by the rules" but cannot get health insurance. I also think that we should exclude criminals with serious criminal records from any public plan. Aliens also should be excluded from any public plan.

spob:
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Here is the real data on health insurance industry average profitability:

CNNMoney.com/FORTUNE 500
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Top industries: Most profitable

Industry Rank: 22
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Industry: Aerospace and Defense
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 7.2

Industry Rank: 23
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Industry: Beverages
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 7.2

Industry Rank: 24
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Industry: Chemicals
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 7.0

Industry Rank: 25
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Industry: Internet Services and Retailing
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 7.0

Industry Rank: 26
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Industry: Food Consumer Products
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 6.5

Industry Rank: 27
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Industry: Telecommunications
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 6.4

Industry Rank: 28
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Industry: Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 6.2

Industry Rank: 29
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Industry: Petroleum Refining
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2007 Profits as % of Revenues: 6.2

...So "Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care" is actually 28th out of all industries, with a profit margin not on par with 2007/pre-crash commercial banks.
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The industry's profitability is in the somewhat lower strata of average margins occupied by paupers such as "Aerospace and Defense", "Telecommunications" and "Petroleum Refining".
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I sincerely apologize for the error; I hope that I got it corrected in timely enough of a manner.
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Whew! I really am glad that I take the trouble to go over every piece of data I put up here at least twice (before and after posting) to make certain that my facts are straight!

Well sure the rabble want a public option but visionaries like Dole and Doler know better.
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"Former Senate leaders launched a bipartisan push for healthcare reform, but they took issue with a central feature of the President's plan, a public, government-run health insurance program." Bob Dole was shown saying, "If you want to stop this thing dead in its tracks, or dead on arrival, in my view, you put the public plan in it." ABC noted that even Tom Daschle, "once Obama's top healthcare adviser, said the public option probably needs to be scrapped." Daschle: "We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue."

Thank ye Stuart - TIME ought t' be payin' ye!
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Still mighty profitable!
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Arrgh!

Wha' I be wanti' t' know be exact how "far" we be comin', an exactly wha' th' "momentum" we gained mi' be...other than continuin' t' placate th' blasted GNOP an' the corporate health types.
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If I had me cannon, I'd broadside th' lot o' 'em!
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YARR!

sqaure1, I agree the Gibbs thing is a gotcha - but an unacceptable one nonetheless. Every single person in the administration should/must have key facts on healthcare at the tip of their tongues. Really no excuse. They should all be as prepared as Howard dean is in this clip: