Public option tea-leaf reading

This morning's Washington Post banners a new poll showing that support for health-care reform improved since Obama's speech but is still a bit shaky. The big finding, though, is that dropping the public option decreases overall opposition to the bill by 6%.

General support for a proposal with a publc option is 46% yes, 48% no (see question 16 in this list of questions and percentages). Support when people are asked, what about a bill with no public option is at 50-42% (see question 23).There's also this:


As I said, this was the lead story in today's WaPo, i.e., will be devoured by every lawmaker and Democratic aide on Capitol Hill. So I think we can see where things are probably headed, if we couldn't already.

I should point out here: some of you probably think liberals want the public option just for symbolic reasons, because we love socialism or something like that. There is something to the belief that some want the symbolic victory for its own sake, but most people who back the public option want it for policy reasons. They fear that without a mechanism to drive premiums down, making people buy insurance won't work -- that people are going to be forced to buy insurance that's expensive and not very good.

It's a real concern. As I've noted previously, the bills are being designed to ensure that no more than X percent of a person or family's adjusted gross income can go to health care. But we won't know how good the care will be until the thing is implemented.

I'm a political realist. It looks like there aren't the votes for the public option, so just pass something. But the policy concern is a real one.