Seniors To Congress: Raise Tobacco Taxes To Fund SCHIP

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 01 Aug 2007 - 0:00 PST

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By a 15-to-1 margin, seniors prefer raising tobacco taxes rather than cutting Medicare Advantage as a means to fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), according to a survey released today.

The survey also found that by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, seniors are less likely to vote for their member of Congress if he or she votes to cut Medicare Advantage to fund SCHIP.

Conducted by the Feldman Group on behalf of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the poll of 603 seniors sheds new light on how America's seniors view the Congressional debate on health care issues.

"Seniors strongly support SCHIP, but they do not want Congress to kill one health program to fund another," said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.

"Based on this survey, it is clear that members of Congress who vote to cut Medicare Advantage are placing themselves in significant political peril," said Roy Temple, Partner at the Feldman Group.

The survey presented seniors with a balanced description of Medicare Advantage using language that both supporters and opponents use to describe the program. After hearing this balanced description, most seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage said they would be less likely to vote for their member of Congress if he or she cuts the program to fund children's health insurance. Even among seniors who are not enrolled in Medicare Advantage, a plurality said they were less likely to vote for a member who would cut Medicare Advantage to fund children's health insurance.

Overall, 42 percent of seniors say they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted to cut Medicare Advantage to fund SCHIP. That number increases to 44 percent among the 57 percent of seniors who say they belong to AARP.

Three-fourths of seniors support increasing the tobacco tax to fund SCHIP. Just five percent of seniors would prefer that Congress fund SCHIP by cutting Medicare Advantage instead of raising the tobacco tax.

The full survey and a presentation of key findings can be found at http://www.ahip.org.

America's Health Insurance Plans -- Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans

America's Health Insurance Plans
http://www.ahip.org