New Research Suggests Most Are Willing to Make Tradeoffs and Would Embrace Comprehensive Health C...( Report Shows That Making ...),Health

Report Shows That Making Americans Part of The Conversation Is Critical To Advancing Health Care Reform

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Congress breaks for its August recess with polls pointing to a decline in public support for health reform efforts, new research shows that getting Americans more involved in the debate is essential to moving the reform needle.

The research showed that after critically thinking through the alternatives, people were willing to make significant and surprising tradeoffs - like limiting treatments to those proven effective, expanding the role of government and an increased role for nurses and other non-physician health care providers - in order to improve our health care system. The report offers specific insight for congressional and other leaders to help build constituent support while back in their home states.

"Major reform efforts fail either because people have been engaged and reject them, or because they were never engaged in the first place," said Daniel Yankelovich, a leader in public opinion research for more than 50 years and chair of Viewpoint Learning. "We found that when Americans are engaged and work through tradeoffs and take on board the experiences of others, they are willing to make more sacrifices than most experts give them credit for."

Published in the report Voices for Health Care, the Viewpoint research was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which supports efforts to expand civic and philanthropic engagement across the U.S. to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families.

Public support for any proposed health care plan is crucial to its approval and, ultimately, its implementation. In 1993, the Clinton Administration's health reform plan enjoyed a 71 percent approval rating early on, but legislation quickly stalled and that rating slipped to less than 4
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