Polls Show Health Care Speech Improved Obama's Ratings On Health Care

Oh, it makes them look cool and composed, right?

great link. Thanks.

This is what everyone should note:

The reality may also be much more favorable to insurers, industry analysts said. Mr. Obama has already agreed to grant one of the industry’s dearest wishes: a requirement that everyone have coverage, which is reflected in the proposals in Congress.

“Under my plan,” said Mr. Obama in a departure from his position during the campaign, “individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.”

The requirement, which would be coupled with subsidies to help those who could not otherwise afford coverage, is likely to result in tens of millions of new customers for the industry. The insurers have also argued that they need to have everyone covered if the industry is going to stop controversial practices like denying policies to people with pre-existing medical conditions or charging sick people much more in premiums than the healthy.

“From the insurers’ standpoint, that was a very positive turn of events,” said Rick Weissenstein, a health care policy analyst in the Washington Research Group at Concept Capital, which follows developments for investors.

Many of the changes to the insurance system now under discussion are the ones that have been advocated this year by the insurance companies themselves, said Karen M. Ignagni, the chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group. “The industry has been the leader in creating the proposals everyone is about to endorse,” she said.