November 5, 2009 11:55 AM
Healthcare: Could Christmas Eve Come and Go Without Completion of Healthcare?
As this is being written on November 5th, the U.S. House is planning to vote on its version of healthcare reform legislation on Saturday, November 7th.The Senate is not yet ready to bring its bill to the floor, but is likely to do so in the next week. Negotiations among the various factions within the Democratic caucus are continuing.
It is most likely that by the time of the Christmas break, both houses will have passed their versions of the bill. The conference will then take place after the 1st of the year, with a goal of having the legislation enacted before the President gives his State of the Union address.
Going back to early September, there has only been one major national media survey that found a plurality of Americans approving of the way in which the President is handling healthcare. Most recently, the NBC/WSJ survey [10/22/09] reported that Americans disapproved of the way Obama was handling the issue by 48% to 43%.
The public, as it has for some time, is far more trusting of President Obama then they are of Republicans to handle healthcare. By 62% to 21% folks do not approve of the way that Republicans in Congress are handling healthcare reform.
However, a plurality of 42% think that the President's plan is a bad idea. 38% think it is a good plan. [NBC/WSJ 10/09]
57% support the idea of the Government creating a health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans. [WP/ABC 10/09]
51% believe the Federal Government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans. [CBS/NYT 9/09]
By 2 to 1 there is support for raising income taxes on households making more than $250,000 to provide health insurance for those who cannot afford it. [CBS/NYT 10/09]
