Political pressure to reform the health care system may be building as more Americans look on the issue as the "top priority for the president and Congress," according to a recent Gallup Poll.
The Feb. 22-25 poll found that, when asked to name the "top priority for the president and Congress to deal with," 27 percent of Americans spontaneously cited health care. The response is the highest seen in more than a year for health care, according to Gallup.
Cost Is Driving Factor
Health Care Grows as Concern Among U.S. Citizens
By News Staff
3/21/2007
Although the issue fell well behind Iraq, which was cited by 76 percent of survey respondents as the top priority, it ranked as the second overall concern and the top domestic concern. The percentage of Americans who said health care should be a top priority grew by 5 percent since a similar poll was conducted in January and by 15 percent since December.
The findings indicate a continuing trend in which Americans see health care costs as an important issue. In November, the Gallup Poll found that cost and access, rather than a specific disease, were the most urgent health-related problems. An October study (PDF file: 2 pages / 60 KB. More about PDFs.) by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that costs were a driving factor in patients' dissatisfaction with the health care system.
Much of this dissatisfaction may be driven by insurance costs. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, "Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace," reports that, with the exception of 1996, annual increases in insurance premiums have been at least double overall inflation since 1988. Beginning in 2002, insurance premium increases each year have been at least three times greater than workers' earning increases.
The findings indicate a continuing trend in which Americans see health care costs as an important issue. In November, the Gallup Poll found that cost and access, rather than a specific disease, were the most urgent health-related problems. An October study (PDF file: 2 pages / 60 KB. More about PDFs.) by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that costs were a driving factor in patients' dissatisfaction with the health care system.
Much of this dissatisfaction may be driven by insurance costs. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, "Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace," reports that, with the exception of 1996, annual increases in insurance premiums have been at least double overall inflation since 1988. Beginning in 2002, insurance premium increases each year have been at least three times greater than workers' earning increases.
Except for 1996, annual health insurance premium growth since 1988 has been at least double that seen in both general inflation and workers' earnings.
During the same period, American's concerns about health care have risen. Most recently, the ABC News/Kaiser Family Foundation/USA Today "Health Care in America 2006 Survey" (PDF file: 25 pages / 156 KB. More about PDFs.) found "there's a precariousness to Americans' contentment with their own health insurance coverage. Among the insured, six in 10 are at least somewhat worried about being able to afford the cost of their health insurance over the next few years, and nearly as many (56 percent) say they worry that by losing a job, they or their family might be left without coverage."
Comparatively, 85 percent of the uninsured said they worried about the cost of their health care.
Indeed, "problems paying for care are on the rise," noted the ABC News/KFF/USA Today report. The survey found "the percentage of people who have had difficulty paying for health care in the last year or had to put off needed care because of its price are at new highs."
The survey further found that
- 25 percent of survey respondents said their families had had a problem paying for care sometime during the past year -- that number rose to 40 percent among people ages 18 to 29 and to 42 percent among households earning less than $35,000 a year, and
- 28 percent of respondents said someone in their family had delayed care in the past year, the highest level for this measure to date.
"Most in this (last) group said the condition they were hoping to treat was at least somewhat serious," the survey said.
