Majority of Public Maintains Support for Addressing Health Care ...(l supported by majorities also show a we...),Health

Date:7/22/2009

l supported by majorities, also show a weakening in support. For example, overall support for an employer mandate fell from 69 percent to 64 percent since last month and those who "strongly" favored the idea fell from 42 percent to 29 percent.

Financing health reform is front and center of the current debate. Roughly half (51%) of the public is willing to pay more for expanding health coverage -- up ten percentage points from last month. And some revenue measures have strong support (taxing cigarettes, taxing Americans earning more than $250,000 annually, and taxing alcohol, beer and wine all have greater than 60% support). However, consistent with the overall pattern, support for revenue measures has softened across the board with a portion of the public shifting from "strongly" to "somewhat" supportive. For example, the percentage who strongly support taxing those earning more than $250,000 annually fell from 49 percent to 40 percent since last month.

One highly debated issue has been the establishment of a public health insurance plan to compete with private plans -- six in ten support this idea. When asked if they would be interested in purchasing a public insurance plan if it were made available, about a quarter (23%) of the public say they would "very likely" look into it and about a quarter (23%) would be "not at all likely" to explore purchasing such a plan.

The proportion of the public following the health reform debate closely (27%) has not changed much over the past several months. But the proportion who report seeing an ad about health care reform is up 10 percentage points since last month (31% compared to 21% in June), with nearly as many reporting seeing a negative as a positive ad, another change from June when reported viewing of positive ads clearly dominated.

"The public wants help with their health care bills and supports health reform, but the hotter th
'/>"/>

SOURCE Henry J. Kaiser Foundation Copyright©2009 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

1 GOOD

Page: 1 2 3 4 5
Related medicine news :

1. Celesio Acquires Majority Stake in Number One Brazilian Pharmaceutical Wholesaler Panpharma
2. Former Senate Majority Leaders Baker, Daschle and Dole Release Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform
3. Anxiety and depression lower quality of life in majority of systemic lupus erythematosus patients
4. New Survey Finds Majority of Adults Dont Understand a Key Source of High Blood Pressure
5. NPC Newsmaker Program Hosts Briefing on Health Care Reform with Former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
6. Majority of ordering physicians lack knowledge of radiation exposure risks from CT
7. Majority of doctors skeptical of organ transplantation practices in China
8. Leapfrog Group Hospital Survey Finds Majority of Hospitals Fail to Meet Important Quality Standards
9. While the Majority of Americans Express Interest in Organ and Tissue Donation, Too Few Take Steps to Register as Donors
10. While majority of Americans express interest in organ and tissue donation, few register
11. Human Services, Health Organizations and Transit Receive a Majority of Kresges Nearly $73 Million in First Quarter Grants