December 29th, 2009

Philadelphia Inq reports:

The debate over health care exposes a curious divide between votes on Capitol Hill and attitudes about reform among voters. The partisanship between Republicans and Democrats in Congress is much more intense than it is among voters themselves. Even more intriguing is that the divide between Capitol Hill and citizens is much sharper now than it was during the first great change in American health-care policy, the enactment of Medicare in 1965.

Congress was not always so superheated by partisanship and polarization as it is now. The establishment of Medicare in 1965 initiated a fundamentally new public policy that continues to touch millions of ordinary Americans and attract their overwhelming political support. When it was created, the program encountered harsh criticism and considerable opposition, but in sharp contrast to today, a substantial portion of the minority party in Congress supported it.

Social Security Online shows that in 1965, the House passed Medicare by a 307-116 vote. Measuring bipartisanship as the proportion of the minority party that cast a “yes” vote and agreed with the majority, 51 percent of voting Republicans (the minority party) supported Medicare. In the Senate, Medicare passed by a 64-30 vote. Of voting Republicans, 29 percent supported Medicare.

In the current debate about health-care reform, the House passed a bill in early November by a 220-215 vote. Only one Republican out of 177 voted “yes.” The Senate bill passed last week was supported exclusively by 58 Democrats and 2 independents. Not a single Republican senator voted for the measure. A health-care bill that eventually passes both chambers may attract more GOP supporters, but the words and votes so far do not augur well for greater bipartisanship.

This stark divide on Capitol Hill is not reflected among Republicans and Democrats who responded to a recent Franklin & Marshall College Poll. The poll found that Democrats favor a series of reform proposals by approximately a 2-to-1 ratio over Republicans. Substantial numbers of Republicans, ranging between 30 percent and 43 percent, favor reforms such as expanding Medicare to everyone who does not have health insurance and requiring everyone to join a health-insurance plan.

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