Two-thirds of Americans across every demographic and income level support the current public health care reform plan being considered by Congress, according to a poll released today* by Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports.
The poll shows that 71 percent of Americans support or strongly support reform to ensure that everybody has access to affordable, quality healthcare, and an even larger percentage (87 percent) support providing medical coverage for all uninsured children. And affording healthcare is still a major issue with nearly two-thirds expressing major or moderate concern about the ability to afford doctor visits in the future. Sixty percent of Americans said they were concerned about the possibility of bankruptcy because of a medical concern.
"This new data confirms what has been on the minds of many Americans for years—people are sick of our broken health care system that can’t cover everybody and in many cases can’t cover the basic necessities," said Jim Guest, President of Consumers Union. "This is the year to change our system and enact strong reforms that will cover more people, drive down the price of seeing a doctor and make sure that nobody is turned away from crucial preventative care."
This new poll reinforces Americans’ overall loss of confidence in the health-care system. In a poll last year, 81 percent said they are concerned about being able to afford health care in retirement, 68 percent worry about being bankrupted by medical bills following a serious illness or accident, and 65 percent fear losing their job-related health coverage. Pressured by rising costs, 35 percent of respondents say they skipped or postponed medical care to control expenses over the previous 12 months.
*links to PDF
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