Laying down some markers on what they want or don't in a health care overhaul, 69 percent of voters said Americans should have the option of a public plan that competes with private insurers, but only 29 percent said they would use it, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 23-29.
Fifty-eight percent said it would be a bad thing if government ran the health care system compared to 32 percent who thought it would be a good thing, but voters were roughly split on whether a public plan as President Obama has proposed was a Trojan horse that would leave to government-run health care. Forty-nine percent said that would not happen while 46 percent believed it would. The margin of error is 1.8 points.
A CNN/Opinion Research poll, conducted June 26-28, found support for President Obama's health care proposal at 54 percent to 45 percent with another 54 percent concerned their health care costs will increase if it passes and only 17 percent believing they would decrease.
In the Quinnipiac poll, nearly three-quarters of voters said they would not be willing to pay more taxes, or would not be willing to pay more than $500 a year, for an overhaul plan that reduces costs and covers the uninsured. Forty-five percent were in the no additional taxes category, while 27 percent said they were willing to pay more if the tab was under $500. Fifteen percent were willing to pay between $500 and $1,000 more.
"American voters want their fellow countrymen to have the option of a public plan, but don't want a public plan for themselves because they are satisfied personally with their health care," said Quinnipiac's Peter Brown. "That presents a challenge to those who want Americans to pay more to reform the system."
Brown's point about the public's feelings about the need for health system changes even while being satisfied with their own health care was underlined also in polls by the Washington Post/ABC News and New York Times/CBS News.
Other key findings:
On the political side, voters approve of the way Obama is handling the issue by 46 percent to 42 percent and they trust him more on the issue than congressional Republicans by 53 percent to 33 percent. Similarly, the CNN poll said that half of those surveyed trust Obama on health care compared to 38 percent who prefer congressional Republicans.
Sixty-three percent oppose a new tax on employees for health care benefits they get from employers, one of the ways some have talked about to pay for an overhaul. Thirty percent would support such a measure. Republicans and independents oppose such a tax by large margins and half of Democrats are against it.
Voters oppose requiring people to have health insurance by 51 percent to 44 percent.
Fifty-four percent the most important objective of an overhaul should be reducing costs compared to 38 percent who said the priority was covering the uninsured. Three-quarters of Republicans put the emphasis on reducing costs as did 58 percent of independents, while 56 percent of Democrats chose covering the uninsured.
Voters said by 53 percent to 44 percent that they believed it was government's responsibility to make sure everyone in the U.S. had adequate health care.
Sixty-six percent said they would oppose an overhaul if it limited their choices of doctors, hospital or treatment. Asked the other way, 59 percent said they would support an overhaul if it allowed those choices.
Eighty-five percent say they very or somewhat satisfied with their current health insurance plan, with 49 percent putting themselves in the "very" category.
See what other polls have said about health care.
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The independently-funded healthcare policy research organization, The Commonwealth Fund, compared possible savings 'a health insurance exchange' could bring under three different scenarios. One would include a Medicare-like plan along with private insurance. Another would instead offer only a government-run plan with rates somewhat higher than Medicare. The final one would be private insurance with no government plan at all.
Commonwealth's study found cumulative health system savings between 2010 and 2020, compared with projected trends for that period, would range from $3.0 trillion under a Medicare-like plan along with private insurance paying providers at Medicare rates in competition with private plans, to $2.0 trillion for a public plan paying providers at rates between Medicare and private plan rates, to $1.2 trillion in the private plan-only scenario. All three options would help insure nearly all Americans, it said, with the number of uninsured dropping to about 4 million people by 2012. 'Such an exchange' would offer a central point for consumers to shop for and compare health plans.
Under the Medicare-like plan along with private insurance, all U.S. residents would be required to obtain health coverage. The plan would establish a new government-sponsored health program for people younger than age 65 who are not eligible for Medicare. More than 40 million people would be expected to enroll in the program, according to Cathy Schoen of the Commonwealth Fund.
The government-operated insurance exchange would be similar to an existing program in Massachusetts and would allow people to compare coverage offered by private insurers and the new public program. In addition, the plan supports wide adoption of health information technology, better disease prevention efforts and 'changes to the insurance payment system' that promote efficiency. Health spending would continue to increase under the plan, but at a slower rate than current projections over the next 10 years. The Commonwealth Fund said the plan would reduce annual health care spending growth from a projected 6.7% to 5.5% and save a cumulative total of about '$3 trillion' by 2020, adding a national health insurance exchange program that includes a federally managed health insurance option could potentially save $1.8 trillion more than a plan consisting only of private plans.
The group's analysis assumed other changes would also be made to the U.S. healthcare market. These include an expansion of existing government coverage and new regulations that would require insurers to cover a wider range of consumers. Hospitals and doctors would also see their revenues grow with any of the three exchanges but at a slower rate, the report said.
The proposal's advocates have argued that a government-sponsored insurance plan would offer the 46 million uninsured Americans an affordable alternative to costly private insurance, adding that It would provide a strong incentive for private plans to strealine, innovate and compete.
Posted by: hsr0601
| July 2, 2009 11:36 AM
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