Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults ranked the rising cost of health care a greater concern than the war in Iraq (79%), the increasing cost of fuel (80%), and the threat of global warming (61%), according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Society for Quality. These findings contrast with results of a recent New York Times/CBS poll that ranked Iraq as America’s top overall issue. The issue of universal healthcare coverage wins even stronger approval in the ASQ survey, which found that 79% of adults believe universal coverage would improve healthcare quality. The survey also found that women (83%) are more likely than men (75%) to think universal healthcare coverage would improve the quality of health care over the next five years. This could correlate to the finding that women are more likely than men to delay medical care because of expense. Sixty-eight percent of adults indicated that healthcare quality would improve over the next five years if individuals became less dependent on health insurance companies for the cost of their own health care.
