Poll Tracker

The poll underlines a dynamic, also evident in a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted June 12-16, that bedeviled former President Bill Clinton's 1993 effort to tackle health care - namely, the concerns of average Americans on how it will affect their own care.

But while polls indicate that the public believes changes in the system are necessary, 88 percent in the Post/ABC poll and 77 percent in the Times/CBS poll said they were satisfied with the quality of health care they personally receive now.

More than 80 percent are very or somewhat worried that big changes will affect that quality, reduce the extent of their coverage, increase costs and sharply increase the federal deficit. Seventy-eight percent expressed the concern about more government bureaucracy and 79 percent were worried about having less choice of doctors or treatments. Of those numbers, a majority put themselves in the "very concerned" category.

The public is split on proposals to require all Americans to have health care, with 49 percent in support and 47 percent against.

However, that support rises if such a requirement is accompanied by a requirement that all employers either offer health coverage or pay into a government health insurance fund, or includes a tax credit or other aid to low-income Americans for coverage or a rule that health insurers must sell coverage to people even if they have pre-existing conditions. But opposition rises to 52 percent to 44 percent if the health insurance requirement comes along with a rule that Americans who don't get insurance through an employer or on their own would have to pay money into a government insurance fund.