This post represents a series I’m beginning on common myths about health care reform. There are so many highly emotional, heated interchanges about health care reform that don’t seem to deal much with facts. This series of posts will attempt to bring some rationing, excuse me, I mean rational discussions to light.

Myth: Americans Don’t Want Government-Run Health Care
Unless you live in a cave somewhere, you have heard time and time again how Americans don’t want a public option for health care. Case in point:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)  in an interview with Fox News Sunday said, “The American people oppose a government takeover of health insurance, and they know if the Democrats and the administration get their way and create a new government-run plan, tens of millions of Americans will lose their health insurance.”

It’s as if right-wing conservatives think they can put words in our mouths and we’ll believe them.

In fact, poll after poll shows that most Americans want a government option for health care. Here are results from a few of them:

• NBC/Wall Street Journal conducted a survey in June 2009 that found 76 percent approval for the public option.
• More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll.
• A recent CBS/New York Times poll shows 66% of Americans want the government to provide a health insurance plan like Medicare to compete with private health insurers.
• A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher than where it stood in June.

Of course, health care reform is a very complicated matter and as such can’t be effectively reduced to results from just one poll. Humphrey Taylor, Chair of The Harris Poll, said after an in-depth look at multiple polls, “Most people are unhappy with the current health care system and favor reform. They want to have a system that gives them affordable access to quality care for the rest of their lives. International surveys show that Americans are more dissatisfied with the U.S. health care system than are people in all, or almost all, other developed countries.”

What’s most important is that we decide for ourselves and that we make sure our voice is heard.