A national survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds widespread support across the political spectrum for a number of health initiatives likely to be taken up by the new Congress, as well as a view by 64% of the public that government should do more to address the high cost of health care.
When asked to pick their top healthcare priority, most people point either to expanding coverage for the uninsured (35%) or reducing healthcare costs (30%). Substantial majorities see healthcare prices as unreasonable compared with other goods and services, including hospital charges (86%), brand-name drugs (83%), health insurance premiums (70%), nursing home charges (63%), and physician fees (59%). Only 18% of Americans said their first priority would be to improve the Medicare drug benefit, and a mere 6% ranked reducing spending on government health programs as their top wish. But partisan differences emerge on priorities, with Democrats placing a much higher priority on expanding coverage, Republicans emphasizing reducing costs, and Independents split.
When faced with a choice between the government trying to solve the healthcare cost problem by dealing directly with providers and insurers and limiting what they can charge versus giving consumers tax incentives to buy high-deductible coverage and encouraging them to shop for lower prices and better quality, most people (59%) chose direct government action over the more market-oriented solution (34%). Overall, however, Iraq by far tops the list of policy priorities for the public, with 46% naming it as one of the two issues they would most like the president and Congress to act on next year. Health care and the economy came next, but followed far back at 15% each.
