Question: Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing in handling the issue of health care reform?

Responses: 45 percent approve, 46 percent disapprove.

These numbers are pretty open-ended as the respondents on both sides could be potentially for or against a sweeping health reform. So we should take this as a natural division of how a politician can never make everyone happy.

Question: Do you generally approve or disapprove of the way that Republicans in Congress are handling the issue of health care reform?

Responses: 21 percent approve, 65 percent disapprove.

These numbers are unfortunately also lackluster. Both parties in Congress almost always have bad approval numbers, and the reasons for the 65 percent disapproval could be almost anything.

Question: How well do you think you understand the health care legislation that is currently being debated in Congress — do you understand it very well, pretty well, only some, or not very well?

Responses: 57 percent responded very or pretty well. 43 percent responded some or not very well.

A 14-point swing was a bit more than we might have thought, but it’s still a telling sign that a large percentage of Americans still don’t know very much about this health reform bill. That only leads to misinformation and, many times, unproductive debates. 

Question: From what you have heard about Barack Obama’s health care plan, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea?

Responses: 39 percent said it was a good idea, 41 percent said it was a bad idea.

This really highlights the deep divisions this country actually has about health reform. Let’s face it, making significant changes to a system that’s so big and complex can be a scary thing. These numbers also reiterate the fact that it’s almost impossible to make everyone happy when it comes to reform.

Question: And from what you have heard about Barack Obama’s health care plan, do you believe it will result in the quality of your health care getting better, worse, or staying about the same as now?

Responses: Better quality 19 percent. Worse quality 36 percent. Same quality 34 percent. 

If you were to point to one thing that could truly kill health reform, this is probably it. If more Americans believe health care is about to get worse for them after reform, there’s no way Congress and the president can politically pull it off. There has to be solid assurances and proof that health reform won’t worsen the quality of health care for it to pass.

Question: Do you feel [the following] absolutely must be included as part of health care legislation, you would prefer it be included, you would prefer it NOT be included, or you feel it absolutely must NOT be included?

Responses: 89 percent say reform absolutely must or would prefer that insurance companies are required cover those with pre-existing conditions.

This is a huge number. Everyone agrees that we need to be able to provide health insurance and health care for those who have health conditions. On a side note, if there’s going to be a “villain” in this tale, the storytellers are doing a good job making health insurance companies the scapegoats.

Responses: 57 percent say at absolutely must not be or would prefer not to have a requirement that all individuals to carry health insurance in the health reform plan.

Even though Americans want insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions, they’re not willing to match it with an individual mandate. But because insurance companies will only go for eliminating pre-existing conditions if there is a mandate, this one might happen despite of Americans’ worry. We think this number more reflects our general distaste for rights restrictions and the thought of the government making us spend money on something.