Voters want Universal Health Coverage, but Partisan Differences Exist: Poll

With healthcare costs among the top three things Americans are having trouble paying for these days (“Paying for Health Care is among American’s Top Three Financial Challenges,” July 31), a majority of registered voters polled by the Kaiser Foundation say they favor universal health coverage.

Over 56 percent of participants in Kaiser’s Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 June survey said the main goal of health care reform should be to make sure everyone is covered by health insurance.  Forty one percent said the main goal of reform should be to make health care affordable and available in the private marketplace.

Many health care industry analysts have said universal health coverage would stem the growth of medical bad debt, a majority of which comes from treating the uninsured.  However, some healthcare industry experts say self-pay accounts are growing at an alarming rate because more covered Americans are facing higher co-pays and deductibles.

While most voters agreed that everyone should be insured, there are clear partisan differences in the execution of a plan that works toward that goal. Seventy one percent of Democratic voters say the focus should be to get everyone covered by health insurance, while 64 percent of Republicans say the main focus should be to make health insurance available and affordable, even if some people remain uninsured.  Independent voters were almost split, with 53 percent favoring universal coverage for everyone.

The different viewpoints reflect voters’ belief about how universal coverage will impact health care costs. According to the survey, 53 percent of Democrat voters say health coverage for all will make a big difference in the average cost for consumers, while only 25 percent of Republican voters believe that. About 36 percent of independent voters believe universal coverage will lower health care costs.

Overall, 59 percent of voters say the costs of the sick and healthy should be shared over the entire group in one insurance pool. Only 32 percent of voters say that healthier people should not be asked to subsidize sicker people.  Again, partisan differences emerge with 74 percent of Democrats saying the costs of the sick and healthy should be shared, while 50 percent of Republican voters say they should not.