Most U.S. Adults Support Health Insurance Mandate With Government Subsidies For Some, Survey Finds

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 16 Jan 2008 - 12:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

About 68% of U.S. adults support a requirement that all residents obtain health insurance with government subsidies for those who cannot afford coverage, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund, Reuters reports. The survey -- conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between June 6, 2007, and Oct. 24, 2007 -- included responses from 3,501 adults in the continental U.S.

According to the survey, 80% of Democrats support a health insurance mandate, compared with 52% of Republicans and 68% of independents. Commonwealth Fund Vice President Sara Collins said, "It is a significant issue as the number of uninsured people climbs every year and more and more middle-class people are affected."

Among Democratic presidential candidates, health care proposals from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) would require all residents to obtain health insurance, and a proposal from Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) would require coverage only for children. None of the health care proposals from Republican presidential candidates includes a health insurance mandate (Reuters, 1/15).

Broadcast Coverage
Summaries of recent broadcast coverage related to the 2008 presidential election appear below.

• Candidates and health coverage: NPR's "Morning Edition" on Monday examined health care proposals from presidential candidates and whether the candidates themselves have and offer to their campaign workers. Several of the candidates comment on their personal health care coverage, and Marilyn Moon, director of the health program at the American Institutes for Research, comments on candidates' plans (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 1/14). Audio and a partial transcript of the segment, as well as expanded NPR coverage, are available online.
  
  
• Health care proposals: NPR's "All Things Considered" on Monday examined the potential effects on the health system of proposals from Republican and Democratic candidates. In large part, Democratic candidates have focused on efforts to expand health insurance to more residents, and Republican candidates have focused on efforts to reduce health care costs, NPR reports. Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said Democrats are proposing to spend more money on their plans, "but it's actually the Republicans who are proposing the bigger transformation of the health insurance system and indeed the more radical change, and that's been completely lost and misunderstood." According to NPR, Democrats "want to build on the existing system, in which most people get their health insurance on the job," while Republicans "want to go in an entirely different direction -- using the tax system to encourage people to purchase their own individual coverage." Joseph Antos, president of the American Enterprise Institute, said that proposals from Republican candidates in large part are designed to "level the playing field on taxes" and would have a limited effect on employer-sponsored health insurance (Rovner, "All Things Considered," NPR, 1/14). Audio and a partial transcript of the segment are available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.