Who Prefers a Public Health Insurance Option?

For all the false alarm ringing over "socialized medicine" when a choice of public health insurance is discussed, little is said about the tens of millions of people in the United States who are currently—happily—getting their health care through a public health plan of one kind or another, and the tens of millions more who want to have that choice available to them.

That fact was highlighted this week by stories about how veterans are reacting to the Obama administration's proposal to require veterans who have private health insurance, have their insurance cover their treatment for combat- and service-related injuries.

This headline speaks volumes: "Veterans blast Obama plan to cover injuries via private insurance." Veterans want the public health coverage to which they are entitled! In fact, they want the socialized medicine to which they are accustomed.

Health services provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) are truly socialized medicine, because the doctors and other health care providers who serve veterans work for the government and the government owns and runs the hospitals and other health care facilities where veterans get treatment. The VHA treats over 5 million veterans a year. (PDF)

It may surprise you to know that in the U.S. members of Congress and Presidents have a long history of also enjoying the socialized medicine taxpayers provide for them. In fact, members of Congress have the choice many of them want to deny you. They can choose a private health insurance plan through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program or they can get top-notch medical care at government facilities, like the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

Many regularly choose the public option. For example:

U.S. Presidents also have a long history of using the socialized medicine provided to them by taxpayers, including George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

But the socialized medicine veterans, members of Congress and U.S. Presidents enjoy is not what Barack Obama is proposing when he includes a choice of public health insurance in his health reform plan. The public health insurance plan being discussed as part of national health reform would work more like Medicare, in which the government runs the insurance coverage, but the doctors, hospitals and other health care providers people go to are the same private, independent providers that currently care for them.

In fact, people with Medicare currently have the choice of public health insurance or private plans that contract with Medicare. About eighty percent of the 44.8 million older and disabled Americans who have Medicare coverage—about 35.4 million people—choose the government-run public plan over the private Medicare plans.

It is the choice 73 percent of voters want, including Democrats (77 percent), Independents (79 percent), and Republicans (63 percent). They want this choice because:

It's time we all had the choice of public health insurance!

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future