Robert J. Blendon is professor of health policy and political analysis at both the Harvard School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program, which focuses on measuring and understanding public opinion in the United States and in other countries on health and other domestic policy issues. He teaches courses on health politics and public opinion polling at Harvard. He is also a Past President of the Association of Health Services Research and winner of their Distinguished Investigator Award. He is also a recipient of the Baxter Award for lifetime achievement in the health services research field.
From a public opinion and political perspective this issue does matter. Rightly or wrongly the public does not see government requiring them to have auto insurance, seat belts, or a fire extinguisher in their home as a tax increase. If the individual health insurance mandate goes through the federal budget and people have to make out checks directly to the federal government, it will be perceived as a tax increase. This is a very difficult environment in which to propose middle-class taxes for new programs, even popular ones such as health care reform. Today, 54% of Americans describe the state… Read more
Related Link: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/horp
