A new poll out of Kaiser Health Family Foundation shows that there is very little support for the Romney/Ryan plan to partially privatize Medicare.
http://www.boston.com/...
We all know that the original Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program was and is extremely unpopular but what was not clear was where the Romney/Ryan medicare partial privatization plan stands.
Well Kaiser Health Foundation polled that very question and found that the Romney/Ryan plan is EXTREMELY unpopular even amongst Republicans.
In a wide-ranging survey of American opinion on health care, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that most oppose a Medicare proposal put forth by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that would give seniors a fixed amount of money to buy health insurance from private plans or traditional Medicare, according to February poll results released today.
Seventy percent of those polled favored the existing Medicare structure, while 25 percent said they would support partial privatization, or “premium support.” The reaction among seniors and younger adults was the same. Among Republicans, a narrow majority -- 53 percent -- said they preferred the status quo.
As you can see this wasn't even close. Americans support the medicare status quo particularly amongst seniors.
We also know that Americans do not support medicare benefit cuts in order to trim the budget.
The Kaiser poll also found that most Americans do not favor major Medicare cuts in order to curb the federal budget deficit; 13 percent supported sizeable cuts, 36 percent favored minor reductions, and half opposed any cuts. The strongest opposition came from seniors.
What is interesting is that Americans are more split on raising the Medicare age of eligibility with younger folks more likely to accept it but it is not popular amongst seniors.
The public, though, seemed more willing to support raising Medicare’s age of eligibility, an idea Romney has proposed and one that President Obama once said he would consider. Fifty percent opposed the concept while 47 percent support it. The majority of seniors, who already qualify for Medicare and would be grandfathered in, support the plan, while a majority of those under 65 oppose it.
In summary the Romney/Ryan plan to partially privatize social security will go over with the American public like a lead balloon. I would argue that this policy that has been proposed by Romney and will be proposed as part of the House Republican budget by Ryan may cause Republicans to not only lose the White House but it also puts the House in play and increases the chance that the Senate stays in Democrats' hands.
Once Obama and the Democrats start to campaign against the Romney/Ryan plan to partially privatize medicare, the polls may get even worse because Obama/Democrats will say that Romney/Republicans want to cut social security benefits and change medicare into a voucher program which results in benefit cuts in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
Do I hear a 2012 landslide...