Poll finds 57% favor public health option

WASHINGTON — As Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials work to shape health-care bills that will go to the House and Senate floors, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that a majority of Americans now support a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.

Americans remain sharply divided about both the overall package and President Obama's leadership on the issue, reflecting the intense partisan battle that has raged for months. But majorities now back two key and controversial provisions: both the so-called public option and a new mandate requiring all Americans to carry health insurance.

Independents and senior citizens, two groups crucial to the debate, have warmed to the idea of a public insurance option and are particularly supportive if it were administered by the states and limited to those without access to affordable private insurance, as stipulated in some versions of the legislation.

But in a sign of the fragile coalition politics that now influence the negotiations in Congress, Obama's approval ratings on health care are slipping among his fellow Democrats even as they are solidifying among independents and seniors. Among Democrats, strong approval of his handling of health care has dropped 15 percentage points since mid-September.

These numbers underscore the challenges ahead for the president and Democratic congressional leaders as they attempt to maintain support among liberals and moderates in their own party while continuing to seek approval from at least a few Republicans lawmakers.

Overall, 45 percent of Americans favor the broad outlines of the proposals now moving in Congress, while 48 percent are opposed, about the same division as in August at the height of the angry town-hall meetings over health care.

But on the issue that has been a flash point in the national debate, 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public insurance option, while 40 percent are opposed.

If run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options, support for a public plan jumps to 76 percent. Under those circumstances, even a majority of Republicans, 56 percent, would be supportive, about double their level of support without such a limitation.

Fifty-six percent of all Americans favor a provision mandating all Americans to buy insurance, either through their employers or on their own or through eligibility for Medicare or Medicaid. That number rises to 71 percent should the government provide subsidies for many lower-income Americans to help them purchase insurance. With those qualifiers, a majority of Republicans say they backed the mandate.

The poll was conducted by conventional and cellular telephone from Oct. 15-19 among a random sample of 1,004 adults. The margin of sampling error for the full poll is plus or minus three percentage points.

Medicare premium to top $100

WASHINGTON — The basic Medicare premium will shoot up next year by 15 percent, to $110.50 a month, federal officials said Monday.

The increase means that monthly premiums would top $100 for the first time, a stark indication of the rise in medical costs that is driving the debate in Congress about a broad overhaul of the health-care system.

About 12 million people, or 27 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, will have to pay higher premiums or have the additional amounts paid on their behalf. The other 73 percent will be shielded from the increase because, under federal law, their Medicare premiums cannot go up more than the increase in their Social Security benefits, and Social Security officials announced last week that there would be no increase in benefits in 2010 because inflation had been extremely low.

Among those who face higher premiums next year are new Medicare beneficiaries, high-income people and those whose Medicare premiums are paid by Medicaid.