Americans say that high costs and the lack of insurance and access to care are the most pressing healthcare problems for government to address, according to an article published in Health Affairs. Writing a month before the 2006 congressional election, the researchers also say that health care overall is a “second-tier issue” for the American public, ranking behind the war in Iraq, the economy, and gasoline prices as a priority for government action.
In an April 2006 survey sponsored by Harvard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 43% of Americans surveyed named high costs as one of the two most important healthcare issues for government to address, while 34% flagged the lack of insurance and access to health care. Issues related to Medicare and the drug benefit finished a distant third, named by only 15% as one of the two most important healthcare issues, while low-quality care was even further behind at 11%.
Although Americans express dissatisfaction with what they have to pay for health care, they rate their medical care favorably, according to the article. Of the three-fourths of Americans who have received medical care in the past year, more than four out of five rated the services and physician care they received as excellent or good. And contrary to the opinion of many experts, most Americans consistently say that both overall U.S. healthcare spending and government healthcare spending are too low.
