Yesterday, I was polled by the Gallup folks on a whole range of topics. The call took about fifteen minutes and it was pleasant enough…but I had two stark observations about the questions I was asked, one positive, one negative. The positive was that the wording of the questions was absolutely neutral. I was not being nudged in the slightest towards one answer or the other. The negative was that in most cases, there were only two possible responses and that neither really gave a true picture of my feelings.
One was — and I may not be remembering the wording precisely but it was close to this — "Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your current health insurance?" My options were to choose "satifisfied" or "dissatisfied" or I suppose I could have abstained. The truth is that I am relatively satisfied with my own health insurance. It covers most of what I need it to cover…though let's be honest here. The true test of your health insurance is not whether it covers one particular prescription (I've currently having a little argument with them over one) but whether it will cover you tomorrow if you suddenly need a liver transplant. Apart from premium costs — which these days, you can't do much about — most insurance plans are just dandy when you aren't filing claims for anything more than Omeprazole. It's like asking, "Are you happy with your local fire department?" Yes, since I haven't had to call them in more than ten years, I have no complaints.
Actually, my complaints regarding health insurance have little to do with mine. I'm frustrated and dismayed at the number of friends who are ill (including a few who have actually, you know, like died) without being able to get health insurance. I also know a few who have it, or thought they had it, and are spending money they can ill afford because of what their policies don't (or won't) pay for. I think that's a horrible, horrible situation that's destroying lives just as thoroughly as any public tragedy…
…but though the pollster asked me a half-dozen questions about health insurance, no combination of answers would have allowed me to express that viewpoint. I was asked if I had health insurance (yes) and if I was satisfied with it (I guess so) and if I obtained mine through an employer (no) and if I obtained mine through a union (yes) and so on. No question that queried, "Do you think health care in this country needs a drastic overhaul?" (abso-friggin'-lutely)
I was also asked if I approved of the job Barack Obama was doing. I said yes, mainly because if I said no, I figured my answer would class me with the Teabaggers or the Republicans or some other group that wishes someone else had won the last election. The truth is that I'm annoyed that he hasn't done more of what some of us expected him to have done by now…but I can't think of anyone I'd prefer to see in the White House at the moment. (This morning, I read this article by Jacob Weisberg who argues that Obama will have had a much more impressive first year than his supporters think.) I kinda wish the Gallup folks had given me an option that said, "I'm dissatisfied but in the opposite way from how Sean Hannity is dissatisfied."
There were others like this but you get the idea. Time and again, I wanted to ask the pollster, "Can I say, 'satisfied but with some major reservations?'" That I couldn't really express my views is something I'm going to keep in mind next time I read one of those polls. They're fine as far as they go but they don't go far enough. Then again, neither does my health insurance or Barack Obama.