If I lived in DC, I think I’d be the public option for Halloween

Apparently, a public insurance option is very scary to our political representatives, but you know what? Public opinion polls in Ohio and across the nation continue to show strong public support for an affordable public health insurance plan.

The Health Foundation just finished a special Ohio Health Issues Poll focused exclusively on healthcare reform. I think the opinions of Ohioans would surprise anyone watching the news or reading newspapers lately: 69% of Ohio adults said that the option of an affordable public health insurance plan that any American can opt into would improve our current healthcare system. Not surprisingly, 88% of Ohio Democrats support the public option, but 40% of Ohio Republicans also think that the public option would improve the current healthcare system.

Similarly reputable national polls show that the majority of Americans also support the public option, support in September ranged from 73% support from the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-NBC_Poll090922.pdf to 57% from the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7988.pdf. With this level of support, it is unclear to me why the public option hit the cutting room floor so quickly in the Senate. The public option has been presented as something very polarizing, but the Health Foundation and other public opinion polls seem to suggest otherwise.

You might also be surprised what Ohioans think about other healthcare reform issues. You can learn more at http://www.healthfoundation.org/ohip.html or take a look at the Health Foundation's healthcare reform site at http://www.healthfoundation.org/reform. This is a nonpartisan source for information on the current debate in Washington and how it could affect our region.

So if you're going for scary this Halloween in Ohio, you'll have to cross the public option off your list. Ohioans support it, as do many people across the country.