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As the health care debate continues, President Obama has a major problem: The majority of Americans who are happy with their health insurance.
In a bid to convince them reform is necessary, Obama refers to new statistics saying that nearly half of Americans lost their insurance coverage for one month or longer at some point between 1997 and 2006.
Unfortunately for Obama, most of those who lost their insurance are now happily insured once again – the system works for them. It might not be perfect – employer-provided coverage has a lot of problems – but it worked.
Americans are concerned about the chronically uninsured – those trapped in poverty or born with serious medical conditions – not with those who lose their insurance for a month are two but then are able to regain coverage.
If Obama focused on helping the truly needy with his reforms, he would earn widespread support for what would likely be a much more affordable reform of the health care industry.
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