Poll Shows Wide Support for Public Health Insurance Option

By KEVIN SACK and MARJORIE CONNELLY
New York Times, June 21, 2009

Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.

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To rebuild our economy and expand opportunity and security for all, we need to sustain and strengthen our public investments -- in education, health care, infrastructure, and other vital supports. Adequate revenues are needed to finance these critical investments in our shared economic prosperity and to put our nation on a sustainable fiscal path.

Today taxes are at a historic low relative to the size of the economy. Tax cuts in the early part of this decade have disproportionately benefited the most affluent and powerful members of our society. In 2007, millionaires averaged $120,000 each from the tax cuts enacted between 2001 and 2006, while taxpayers at the bottom of the income scale received only $20.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for very wealthy individuals and corporations failed to stimulate real job and wage growth. Instead, they widened income inequality, inflated our nation’s debt, and left us ill-prepared to address the challenges facing our country.

Congress will soon face many key tax policy choices as it considers health care reform and other critical budgetary and investment decisions, including the approaching expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Additional revenues will clearly be needed to meet the nation’s challenges. They must be raised in a fair and progressive manner in order to reduce inequality and return to shared prosperity.

The following national organizations have signed on to the statement of principles of responsible and fair taxation and funding investments for the common good.

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9to5, National Association of Working Women

ACORN

AFL-CIO

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.

Americans United for Change

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs

Campaign for America's Future

Center for Community Change

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Children's Defense Fund

Citizens for Tax Justice

Class Action

Coalition on Human Needs

Community Action Partnership

Every Child Matters

Faith and Money Network, Inc. (formerly Ministry of Money)

Families USA

Food Research and Action Center

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Hispanic Federation

Institute for Policy Studies-Program on Inequality and Common Good

Kids Project

Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

LEAnet, a national network of local education agencies

Legal Momentum

Lutheran Services in America

NASW National Office

National Association for State Community Services Programs

National Association of Social Workers

National Center for Law and Economic Justice

National Coalition for the Homeless

National Direct Care Partnership

National Jobs for All Coalition

National Latina Health Network

National Low Income Housing Coalition

National Organization for Women

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness

National Priorities Project

National Puerto Rican Coalition, Inc.

National Tongan American Society

National WIC Association

National Women’s Conference Committee

National Women’s Health Network

National Women's Law Center

NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

OMB Watch

OWL – The Voice of Midlife and Older Women

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office

RESULTS

Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Sojourners

The National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society

TrueMajority.org

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

United for a Fair Economy

United Neighborhood Centers of America

USAction

Vote Kids

Voices for America’s Children

Wealth for the Common Good

Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW)

Women Employed

Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement

YWCA USA