Poll: Americans Call for Major Healthcare System Changes

Results from a poll regarding the U.S. healthcare system, initiated by Research!America and the Albert & Mary Lasker foundation, were released on Thursday. The poll found that most Americans desire major changes to the current health system, along with greater government funding for various health-related programs and institutions.

According to a press release issued by Research!America, thirty-seven percent of registered voters who participated in the poll call for a "complete overhaul" of the healthcare system, while another thirty-seven percent desire "significant changes." Twenty-four percent were of the opinion that it requires "minor adjustments", but fifty-nine percent feel that the government is responsible for ensuring that everyone has health coverage.

Many respondents favored increased health-related federal funding. Forty-seven percent advocated greater funding for the National Institutes of Health, and seventy-five percent opposed budget cuts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which have been recommended by President Bush, while forty-two percent called for an increase in funding. Fifty-six percent of the respondents supported federal funding for stem cell research as well.

The press release indicates that the poll was conducted nationally by the Charlton Research Company, via telephone. The Research!America website states that their organization was founded in 1989 and has been gathering the public's opinions on health and medical research issues for over ten years. It lists their goals as including the promotion of funding and other support for health-related research.

The issue of healthcare has increasingly become a subject of debate, due to heightened concerns over uninsured workers, partial or complete denial of payment by insurance companies, and the cost of prescription drugs. The recently released movie "Sicko" regarding the U.S. health system and various politicians' proposals to improve the situation have also attracted attention to this issue. Most statistics point to the U.S. healthcare system being relatively good in comparison to the rest of the world in general, but deficient in some ways when compared to Canada, several West European countries, and a few others.

According to a Commonwealth Fund report issued in September 2006, just under half of adults receive enough screening and preventive tests, thirty-five percent of adults younger than 65 didn't have health insurance or were "underinsured" at some time during the year 2003, and African-Americans, as well as Hispanics, tend to receive poorer healthcare. It rated the U.S. healthcare system somewhat highly in the fields of quality and equity, but gave it poorer ratings in the areas of access and efficiency.

Sources:

1. Research!America, http://www.researchamerica.org/media/releases/7.19.2007.yourcongresspoll.html
2. Research!America, http://www.researchamerica.org/about/
3. Commonwealth Fund, http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=401577