|by Deb Cupples | CBS News reports on a poll indicating that 67% of American surveyed are confused about health-care-reform ideas. This "cuts across party lines": 69% of Republicans and 58% of Democrats are confused.
Funny: they didn't seem so confused in June and July, when 68% - 88% of Americans surveyed simply favored a public, non-profit insurance option (see here and here).
But of course they're confused now! Some politicians, health-industry executives, and media folks have been clouding issues and muddying the debate.
For example, President Obama has not been consistent or clear about his proposed changes. Some think he's double-talking. Others think he's been pandering to the Medical Industrial Complex (I don't know who came up with that phrase, but it's a good one).
Some shameless politicians don't want us hardworking Americans to have the freedom to choose between for-profit insurance (more expensive) and non-profit insurance (less expensive). Some of them bellowed about make-believe horrors, such as "death panels."
Of course people are getting confused.
Naturally, the folks running health-insurance companies have been paying lobbyists and media folks to scare the dickens out of the very same Americans who would benefit most from true health care reform (e.g., a non-profit insurance option). They might have had a hand in those staged Townhall protests, too.
Convincing working-class Americans to oppose a non-profit insurance OPTION is like convincing starving people to oppose an option for food.
Bottom line: insurance execs hate the public option, as it would mean that fewer of our health care dollars would flow into their personal bank accounts. For a tiny glimpse of how much of our money they've been taking, see the table after the jump.