Obama Maintains More Confidence On Health Care Than Congress

I’ve often noticed the trend that support for health care reform tends to increase the more Barack Obama is involved. This is consistent with today’s Gallup poll which shows that Obama retains more trust than Congress on health care reform:

Americans remain more confident in the healthcare reform recommendations of President Obama (49%) than in the recommendations of the Democratic (37%) or Republican (32%) leaders in Congress. But these confidence levels are lower than those measured in June, suggesting that the ongoing healthcare reform debate has taken a toll on the credibility of the politicians involved.

It is a good sign that the American people trust the Republicans the least in light of how they have offered no serious answers and now oppose ideas which have been backed by Republicans in the past. Unfortunately their attacks based upon distortions of what is in the bill, along with seeing the process in public for the past year, have reduced overall confidence in the politicians involved.

Obama is getting far more involved in personally promoting health care reform which should increase the chances of passage. It is understandable that Obama would want to handle health care reform different from how Hillary Clinton handled this in 1993. Putting out a plan developed in secret with no willingness to compromise doomed her plan. In retrospect, a middle course would have been better with Obama taking more of a lead but showing a willingness to accept some input from Congress and other groups. Sticking to his opposition to the individual mandate would have also helped maintain popular support for health care reform with the mandate now fueling much of the opposition from both the left and the right.

Doctors continue to have the greatest credibility on health care reform. Receiving considerable support from doctors has been one factor which I believe has kept the current push for health care reform alive when previous efforts have failed.

The Democrats need to do even more to publicize the evaluation of health care reform by medical organizations such as the American Medical Association. For example, after passage of the House plan the AMA sent out a fax which debunks the whole Republican argument that health care reform is a government take over of health care. The fax included this response to that argument:

Preserving the power of patients and their physicians to make health care decisions–rather than insurance companies or government officials–is of paramount importance to all physicians and to the AMA. While H.R. 3962 includes a number of new government oversight bodies, the AMA has not identified any new authority that would overpower the relationship between patients and their physicians. Furthermore, expanded coverage and choice should help empower patient and physician decision making.

3 Comments

  1. 1
    Brett Robinson says:

    RT @ronchusid: #Obama Maintains More Confidence On #HCR Than #Congress. Doctors have greatest trust. http://bit.ly/bW7mF0 #p2

  2. 2
    Mr D. says:

    #Tcot this is what it looks like when a blog also uses facts. http://bit.ly/bW7mF0 #p2 #hcr #p2 #obama

  3. 3
    Winter Thur says:

    RT @blackjedi47: #Tcot this is what it looks like when a blog also uses facts. http://bit.ly/bW7mF0 #p2 #hcr #p2 #obama

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