Progress Illinois

Aaron Schock, the youngest member of Congress, ostensibly understands what's important to young people around the country. That's why FOX News invited the Peoria Republican on the air yesterday to discuss whether or not voters under the age of 30 support health care reform. His response might surprise folks who have looked at any polling data over the past few months:

SCHOCK: The fact of the matter is this: Young people, my generation and those younger than me, like choices. After all, this is the Starbucks generation, if you will. They go to the coffee shop and get something different each day. This is the iTunes, Facebook, YouTube generation that like choices. And under the president’s plan, he in very short order will move towards a one-system, one-size-fits-all, single-payer system. And it’s why not only young people have rejected the president’s plan, but more importantly, the American people across the board have rejected the president’s plan. And it's why he has failed to convince his majority in Congress to pass this bill.

Let's take a look at some data, shall we? A Washington Post/ABC News poll last month found that 57 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds approve of Obama's handling of health care. Rasmussen, the favored polling outfit of the Republican leadership, saw 67 percent of those under 30 favor the plans produced by congressional Democrats.

Why is support so high? Because the current system is not working for so-called "millenials." Thirty percent of people between 19 and 24 and 26 percent of people 25 to 34 are uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. For those with jobs, just 53 percent are eligible for employer-based coverage. And coverage on the open market, even for the relatively healthy, is often extremely expensive.

Statistics aside, Schock's argument is not grounded in reality. We've written about this talking point ad nausum, but it's just patently false that the bills currently working through Congress would eradicate the private insurance market. Every bill except the "mark-up" rolled out last week in the Senate Finance Committee would restrict access to the Health Insurance Exchanges (which would house the government-run plan) to the unemployed, self-employed, or those at businesses with 10 or fewer employees. That's about 30 million Americans. Two-thirds of those people would choose to purchase regulated plans from private insurance companies.  The Congressional Budget Office (in its analysis of of the House "tri-commitee bill") estimates that the other third (10 to 11 million individuals) would choose to enroll in the public option by 2019. For a "government takeover," that's a pretty small first step.

If Democrats get their way, a public option would serve as one option consumers could choose on the open market. And it's role as a check on the private insurance market could be crucial to lowering the cost of premiums.

It's not the president who is restricting choice. It's representatives like Schock.