SCHIP: Weak Arguments Beget Bad Poll Results

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released the results of a poll on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that it sponsored with National Public Radio and the Harvard School of Public Health. According to a summary:

[One question] provided proponents’ and opponents’ strongest arguments. Even when presented with these pros and cons, support [for expanding SCHIP] stays at 65 percent.

And just what were the “opponents’ strongest arguments”?

Opponents say the expansion would encourage some families who have private health insurance to drop it in favor of government‐​funded coverage. They also say the expansion will wind up covering some children in middle‐​class families.

Not exactly what I would call the strongest arguments against SCHIP.


The fault, however, lies not with the poll’s sponsors. If opponents of SCHIP expansion use weak arguments, that’s what the pollsters will test.