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Muhlenberg/MCall Poll: Medicaid Expansion Beats CorbettCare

Tom Corbett portrait loresA Muhlenberg/Allentown Morning Call poll found significant support for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare).

The pollster asked which was better, expanding the existing Medicaid program or providing funds to buy insurance from private insurance companies.

50% of respondents said expanding Medicaid was preferable. 22% chose the private insurance option, a proposal supported by Gov. Tom Corbett. 28% were not sure or preferred another option.

The ACA offers federal funding to states that expand Medicaid insurance to cover residents at or near the poverty line. Corbett proposed a modified plan which instead uses the federal funds to allow individuals to purchase private insurance.

The pollster asked 317 adults from Sept. 16-20. The margin of error for the Medicaid question is plus or minus 6 percentage points. It was one question of a full-length poll that the Morning Call will publish Sunday.

But Corbett’s critics should take the results with a grain of salt. It cannot be used it to write the obituary of the Governor’s plan.

The first poll calls went out on Sept. 16, the same day Corbett unveiled his ‘Healthy PA’ plan. That means details of the plan had only hours to make their way into the minds of poll respondents.

By contrast, Medicaid expansion has been discussed for months and years. And ‘Medicaid’ likely enjoys a significant name ID advantage over all other options polled.

Corbett and his team should likewise take note: while this poll can’t be taken as a reflection of his specific plan, it does offer a look at the uphill climb he faces in selling it.

Medicaid is very well known and well liked. He must define public opinion of his plan before his critics do, because in a contest between ‘Corbett’s plan,’ and ‘Medicaid,’ ‘Corbett’s plan’ is likely to lose every time.

5 Responses

  1. Noted Educational Activist Diana Ravitch writes a blog on Education Policy: “Despite the miserable results that cyber charters get in study after study, the state has authorized more of them than any other state. It has 12 up and running, four more just approved, and more in line to be approved.

    I mistakenly reported in an earlier post that only one cyber charter had ever made “adequate yearly progress,” but I was mistaken. NO cyber charter has ever made AYP in Pennsylvania. It was only because the State Education Commissioner dummies down the scoring that one crossed the bar. When held to the same standards as public schools, no cyber charter meets the NCLB requirement for academic progress.” WHY DOES THE CORBETT/BRABENDER ADMINISTRATION HAVE A CYBER SCHOOL PROFITEER IN THE CAPITOL? CHARLES ZOGBY YOU ARE TOO CONFLICTED TO LOOK AFTER THE PUBLIC INTEREST!!

  2. FIRE SALE: lobbyists looking to “buy” a governor may one on the cheap in Pa. Although his approval rates are low, he’s happy to take orders and won’t ask embarrassing questions. Please note – ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
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  3. Is it true that Corbett is considering taking a page from Palin’s book — I.e. resigning the governorship so he can cash in on his enormous popularity?

  4. There comes a time in a person’s life when you get a call to action. I’ve decided to commence writing a political expose on the Corbett Administration. I am not sure whether it will be straight forward prose or a roman a clef in the style of PRIMARY COLORS. My book will be published as an Ebook under the pseudonym JACK BURDEN. I will ask and GOD WILLING answer many questions: 1. Why does Brabender continue to have so influence much in Pennsylvania? 2. What influence did strategic political advisor John Brabender have on Prosecutions when Corbett was AG? 3. Why was Daddy NUTT appointed to be Chair of our Turnpike Commission.? 4. At what amount does a special interest need to contribute to get a Budget Secretary and another Shadow cabinet position? 5. What was so threatening to the interests of k12 inc. that Charles Zogby allegedly had to order a political hit on Bill Harner? I am open to the proposition of having Signor Ferrari as a co-author. Looking forward to candid discussions with the PATERNO family. I think the working Harrisburg press has been derelict in their duty of informing voters of the blantantly inherent conflicts in the Brabender/Corbett Adminstration. My researchers are in place. Expected publication Labor Day 2014.

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