Americans on Health Care Reform: Results from the recent Casscells/Zogby Poll

Transcription

1 Americans on Health Care Reform: Results from the recent Casscells/Zogby Poll Presented to: National Press Club July 15, 2009

2 Background Online poll on American attitudes on health care reform conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in collaboration with Zogby International, Inc. Why? Health polls (notoriously fickle, personal, complex, phrasedependent, and sponsored by the passionate) influence Congress In past, support for reform has waned as deadlines approached. We asked if this was occurring once again 3,862 respondents from June 18-22, 2009 Slight weight added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the population Margin of error: +/- 1.6% July 15,

3 Percentage Uninsured Polls have estimated the percentage of uninsured Americans to be in the range of 7-16%. Date Percent Uninsured Gallup November 15, % Consumer Reports April 6, % ABC News/Washington Post June 21, % Zogby/Casscells June 22, % Quinnipiac June 29, % July 15,

4 The Uninsured Overall, about 8% are uninsured. 84% 65% 6 65% 8 35% 52% 2 24% 9% % Aged Earn < $25k Have an MD Pay cash Do without Good health Uninsured Insured July 15,

5 Insurance, Satisfaction, and Priorities 84% 79% 53% 46% 44% Satisfied with health care? Health care costs hurting business? Health care a human right? Public plan to "keep insurance honest"? Gvmnt expand health care role? July 15,

6 Promoting Quality Care How to best promote quality care? Excellent Rating 1. Patient Incentives for Prevention, such as wellness programs to promote weight control, vaccinations, etc.* 43% 2. More government investment in basic research 3 3. Post risk-adjusted procedure outcomes 28% 4. Government investment in clinical patient research 28% 5. Pay MDs for better outcomes 28% 6. Reduced co-pay for those who rate medical encounters 17% 7. Use of Personal Health Records 15% 8. Pay MDs to use electronic records 9% *66% answered yes to, For $1000 a year, would you stop smoking (or not start), lose ten pounds, exercise 30 minutes three times a week, get all vaccinations and standard cancer screening? July 15,

7 Insuring the Uninsured Require everyone in the USA to have health insurance, w ith federal help for those w ho cannot pay the premiums Require all employers to offer insurance choices and to cover two-thirds of the costs 68% 22% Agree 36% Disagree Agree 22% Disagree Provide health insurance for everyone in the U.S. on a single-payer program, similar to Medicare 44% Agree Disagree July 15,

8 How to Pay for New Programs and Services 88% 77% Percentage in Favor 73% 72% 71% 6 58% 55% 52% 49% 43% 41% 35% 31% 17% 14% 14% 13% 12% 1 Eliminate Fraud Standardize Forms Promote Living Wills Reduce Medical Errors Incentivize Prevention Reduce Unnecessary Care Restrict Care of Illegal Aliens Increase Cigarette Tax High Premiums for Unhealthy Behavior Cap Prescription Drug Prices Outcome-based Pay for MDs, Hospitals Increase Alcohol Tax Increase Tax (Families > $250k) Tax Sugary Drinks Increase Medicare Age to 66 Increase Co-pays, Deductibles Decrease Hospital Reimbursement Ration Useful but Expensive Care Elimination Medicare Advantage Plans Decrease Home Care Reimbursement Tax Employees with Expensive Health Plans July 15,

9 Declining Support for Proposal to Tax Benefits of Expensive Employee Plans 6/07/08 6/08/09 6/13/09 6/15/09 6/16/09 6/22/09 6/29/09 6/7/09 6/9/09 6/11/09 6/13/09 6/15/09 6/17/09 6/19/09 6/21/09 6/23/09 6/25/09 6/27/09 6/29/09 July 15,

10 Support for Increasing Income Taxes Remains Constant Support for increasing taxes to insure all may have peaked at 6. 5/7/09 5/21/09 6/4/09 6/18/09 July 15,

11 Public Options Agree Disagree 27% prefer a new public plan administered by the federal government while 28% prefer a privately-run, federallysponsored health insurance cooperative. 59% believe a Federal Health plan could undermine private insurance companies. 55% 55% 48% 42% 42% 4 36% 3 Cap malpractice Require purchase of insurance Expand Medicaid to over poverty level Expand state children s insurance, 5x poverty level July 15,

12 Single Payor Option Support for a national health insurance plan ("single payor") has peaked. 6/01/09 6/07/08 6/22/09 5/20/09 *Employee Benefits Research Institute July 15,

13 Federal Health Insurance Plan Support for a new health insurance plan ( Medicare for <65") has peaked. 6/01/09 6/29/09 6/07/08 6/08/09 6/16/09 6/15/09 6/22/09 5/20/09 5/27/09 6/3/09 6/10/09 6/17/09 6/24/09 *Employee Benefits Research Institute July 15,

14 Taxing Families with Incomes Greater than $250,000 Support for taxing high-income families to cover uninsured may be falling. 6/15/09 6/21/09 6/22/09 6/15/09 6/16/09 6/17/09 6/18/09 6/19/09 6/20/09 6/21/09 6/22/09 July 15,

15 Health Insurance Mandates Support for employee mandates fluctuates, but support for individual mandates is declining. 6/01/09 6/08/09 6/29/09 2/26/09 6/21/09 6/16/09 6/22/09 Employer Employee 6/1/09 6/3/09 6/5/09 6/7/09 6/9/09 6/11/09 6/13/09 6/15/09 6/17/09 6/19/09 6/21/09 6/23/09 6/25/09 6/27/09 6/29/09 *Employee Benefits Research Institute July 15,

16 Latest Poll on Legislation Introduced to House of Representatives on 7/14/09 of the 2,059 adults Zogby International surveyed online opposed the House s Health Care Reform Bill; 42% supported it. 42% Support Oppose *Participants were asked, Do you support or oppose the House bill that would: 1. Require everyone to have health insurance. 2. Require all but the smallest employers to offer health insurance. 3. Establish a Medicare-like, public insurance program for those not coveredby a private plan, Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare. 4. Pay for the plan by raising taxes on individuals making more than$250,000 a year, and couples making more than $350,000? ** The margin of error is +/- 2.2 percentage points. July 15,

17 Discussion Support for Congress s legislative proposals (mandates, public options, and taxes) is trending down. There is widespread support for providing insurance for all Americans. But none for rationing care, or increasing taxes. Support was also weak for paying doctors to use electronic health records and only moderate for capping prescription drug prices. There is strong support for simplifying billing; decreasing fraud, medical errors, and unnecessary care; increasing biomedical research; capping malpractice awards; promoting living wills; and incentivizing clinicians and patients for performance, particularly disease prevention and good health outcomes. Overall, Americans are in favor of improving care and generating savings by incentivizing best practices. July 15,