Like many, it seems the something for nothing philosophy is alive and well among our population.  Bottom line, Americans seem to favor all kinds of health reform and benefit expansion, as long as they are not asked to pay for it.  Take it from smokers, drinkers, the so-called “rich”, anything but ask ME to ante up.  Well my friends, I do not think it can work that way.  In the end, all will need to step up the plate.  The most onerous reality is that since the 1950’s and 1960’s both government and industry have been REMOVING RESPONSIBILITY from INDIVIDUALS through corporate and business health  plans as well as federal and state intervention with Medicare and Medicaid programs.  While these programs have been successful in the main, like all “prescriptions” the have had one major side-effect: to remove the RESPONSIBILITY FOR PERSONAL HEALTH from the equation.  We can see it all around us – smoking is not my fault, it is the tobacco companies; drinking is not my fault, it is the bars, lounges and distillers; obesity is not my fault, it is the fault of fast food restaurants and eating establishments – need I go on?  So is it any wonder that so many feel that health insurance is not their problem, but a problem to be solved for them by business, labor, government, medicine and others, anybody but the individual.  Again, read The Plan, on this site and learn from step one that we should mandate health insurance coverage as a PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, end the burden on business and reform health insurance and health insurance access to allow this to be successful.  No plan will work 100%, but The Plan, as outlined herein, will allow for the preservation of what is best in our private market system along with needed governmental oversight, input and reform . . . jomaxx

Survey indicates Americans’ support for health reform decreases when faced with trade-offs

According to a national survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, the “prospects for health reform drop significantly when Americans hear potential financial trade-offs associated with expanding health-insurance coverage.” The survey revealed that “nearly seven in 10 people say they favor the concept of” employer-sponsored health insurance, or “requiring employers…to contribute into a fund that pays to cover the uninsured.” But, support fell “to about three in 10 people” when they “heard the mandate would cause some employers to lay off workers.” Meanwhile, support for a mandate “requiring all Americans to have health insurance” fell from “two out of three people” to 19 percent when told “some people may be required to buy insurance that’s too expensive.”

Read more @ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hb3Oc40M53KyoBPLQv3D46poQCwAD95NSBU80

 Among those surveyed, “Americans ranked helping the newly unemployed afford health coverage second behind helping businesses keep or create jobs as a priority for any federal economic stimulus plan,” according to  (1/16, Vesely). Meanwhile, “providing states with more federal help to pay for healthcare for lower-income residents ranked third.”

Read  more @ http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/health-provisions-publics-top-priorities-economic-stimulus.html

and

http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/kaiserpolls011509nr.cfm