I started watching after having seen Obama only giving prepared speeches, and McCain stumbling though various interviews. So I had high expectations for O and low for M. Given that, it seemed to me like McCain was doing a little better. I watched about half that way.
When I went to watch the rest, I just started at the beginning again. This time, my expectations had changed to that they would be on fairly equal footing. With this in mind, this time it seemed like Obama did a bit better, although not overwhemingly so. He did stumble occasionally, but not too much. McCain seemed to be mostly OK except when he was obviously misrepresenting Obama, or saying something silly, or towards the end when he was acting condescendingly.
I actually used to have some respect for McCain, and his views, until he started campaigning, at which point he started flipping on a lot of his views to be more in line with Bush (like torture). During the debate, he seemed more like his old self, and also outlined the ways in which he disagreed with Bush, like torture and climate control. But given that he had already flipped on these things, I find myself having trouble trusting what he says even though now it’s more in line with how he used to be.
You make that 85% sound pretty darn good but remember that adds up to 45 million uninsured people. That is about the entire metro area population of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas. NOT a small number.
Also, 85% of the population might be insured but “insured” can can be very different from person to person. For instance my employer has no vision or dental plan. As it happens I could really use some dental work but I simply cannot afford the several thousand dollars I was quoted out-of-pocket. Worse, as shown, the number of insured people is heading south as businesses seek to cut costs. Add to that you are one layoff away from no insurance and then what?
I work as a temp, making around $31K a year, and my wife is a contract worker who makes around $8K a year. We’re not in poverty, but with 3 kids and living in a large city, we definitely don’t consider ourselves middle-class. We are uninsured (except for Medicaid for the two younger children - the second grader is too old).
My temporary agency offers insurance (well, they don’t copay on it), but we looked over what it offers and what it provides, and it really was not worth it. The premiums for the family were almost $200 a week, there was a $1500 annual deductible before it would pay for ANYTHING other than prescriptions, and even after that there was a $100 deductible on doctors visits for anything other than an annual checkup. We figured that, for that to be worthwhile, we’d have to have over $12,000 worth of covered medical expenses that year, and it wouldn’t help much for what we really need, which is being able to go see a doctor when we are sick but not in an emergency situation.
I’ve had “real” insurance before (and hopefully will again when I get brought on as a permanent employee, though they keep putting that off due to the economy) and I really miss those $10 copays on doctor visits. I think a lot of people who don’t understand those who can afford insurance but opt not to buy it are assuming that the insurance that is available is the same as what is offered by companies that co-pay their employee’s insurance. If you are a temp, or just working for a company that doesn’t offer insurance, or are unemployed, there are insurance options out there, but they are only helpful if you experience a serious medical problem and cost so much that they drastically reduce your standard of living if you are only making $40K a year or so.