Increase taxes to cover universal health insurance?

Everyone is talking about how to resolve the issue of providing health insurance to the 47 million who don't have any insurance. The major problem is this presidential administration squandered a surplus left behind by the last president by giving everyone tax cuts (and continuing to give them despite this country being in a war) instead of using it to lay a foundation to help those without health insurance.

According to a New York Times/CBS poll, 24% of those polled were satisfied with "President Bush's handling of the health insurance issue." (not a big surprise).

However, some interesting statistics were:

• 25% of those with insurance "said someone in their household had gone without a medical test or treatment because insurance would not cover it."
• 6 out of 10 "of those without insurance said someone in their household had gone without care because of the cost."
• 64% say the government should guarantee health insurance for all
• "Nearly 8 in 10 said they thought it was more important to provide universal access to health insurance than to extend the tax cuts of recent years."

Some respondents to the poll even went as far as saying they would be willing to pay additional taxes if it meant the government being able to provide health insurance to all—very interesting.

Would you be willing to pay additional taxes to have universal health insurance as an option?

Let us know. We'd be interested in your thoughts.