Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support a federal health insurance plan for those who can’t afford or can’t get private insurance, but only 37 percent define “public option” correctly, a new national poll found.

The majority of people polled — 86 percent — say insurance should be available to everyone regardless of health history.

The poll was conducted over the Internet by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.

It was released in conjunction with an AARP forum at the Tattered Cover Book Store with Charlie Cook, publisher of The Cook Political Report.

Cook told a crowd Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s biggest mistake may have been passing off health care reform to Congress, which polls show the public doesn’t trust as much as the president.

“I think the proposal is full of caricatures,” he said. “It almost doesn’t matter what’s in it. Perception in politics is important. . . . It’s become so badly damaged, it can’t float.”

Among the 1,000 Democrats, Republicans and independents surveyed on Aug. 12 and 13, 79 percent say they believe a federal government health insurance option should be available for people to buy.

Yet about one-fourth of those polled believe the “public option” is a national health care system, similar to the one in Great Britain.

“These two words have become radioactive, they have been swift-boated,” said William Mann, senior vice president of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates. “There is a real misunderstanding.”

The margin of error for the Internet survey is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“There is so much more educating that needs to be done across the board on various health care reform options,” said Morie Smile, interim director of Colorado’s AARP office. “Nobody seems to have a firm grasp on the vocabulary. It’s either a sacred cow or a punching bag.”

Other poll findings include:

• More than half of those polled want health insurance reform, but 64 percent don’t want to pay more taxes to expand health coverage to the uninsured.

Among those with health insurance, 74 percent say they are not willing to pay higher premiums.

• Almost three-quarters of people polled believe employers who don’t provide health insurance should be required to make a contribution to a fund to help uninsured employees purchase their own plan.

• Almost 70 percent of those polled believe in looking for savings in Medicare to pay for health care reform.

Vicki and Jerry Alpiner of Centennial, who attended the AARP forum Tuesday, said they believe everybody deserves health care. After following the issue on television this summer, they feel people aren’t getting the whole story.

Vicki Alpiner, 69, says she doesn’t know why “old people are so gullible.”

Jerry, 77, agreed. “Half the country thinks Grandma will be euthanized,” he said. “And that’s a sad state of affairs.”

Overwhelmingly, those polled believed in getting more people covered and reducing costs, Mann said.

“People don’t want reform for reform’s sake,” he said. “If they (Congress) want to pass reform, they need to make clear in their community that they have two priorities and our package will address them.”

Online. denverpost.com

Allison Sherry: 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com