Polls Examine Importance Of Health Care As Issue In Presidential Election

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Sep 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Two recent polls asked voters about their opinions on health care and other issues in the presidential elections, as well as which candidate they considered most able to address various concerns. Summaries appear below.

• Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll: Fifty-four percent of registered voters trust Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) more than Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to address health care, compared with 25% who trust McCain more to address the issue, according to a recent Times/Bloomberg poll, the Times reports (Hook, Los Angeles Times, 9/25). The poll, conducted between Sept. 19 and Sept. 22, included interviews with 1,428 adults -- 1,287 of whom were registered voters and 838 of whom were likely voters. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points (Przybyla, Bloomberg News, 9/24).
  
  
• Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll: The Wall Street Journal reports that a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds the economy is the "top issue for large numbers of voters," with health care, education and the environment "a distant second" (Meckler, Wall Street Journal, 9/25). The poll, conducted between Sept. 19 and 22, included interviews with 1,157 voters, 1,085 of whom were registered voters. Full results are available online (Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 9/24).

NEJM Perspectives
The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday published several perspectives about health care issues related to the election. In the perspectives, the presidential nominees and health care experts analyzed the nominees' proposed health care plans and the effect that the industry is having on the election (Brink, "Booster Shots," Los Angeles Times, 9/24). Headlines appear below.

• McCain, "Election 2008: Access to Quality and Affordable Health Care for Every American";
  
  
• Robert Steinbrook, "Election 2008: Campaign Contributions, Lobbying, and the U.S. Health Sector -- An Update";
  
  
• Obama, "Election 2008: Modern Health Care for All Americans";
  
  
• David Blumenthal, "Election 2008: Primum Non Nocere -- The McCain Plan for Health Insecurity"; and
  
  
• Joseph Antos, "Election 2008: Symptomatic Relief, but No Cure -- The Obama Health Care Reform" (NEJM, 9/25).

Also available online is video of an event co-sponsored by NEJM featuring health advisers to the campaigns and other policy experts.

Columbus Dispatch Examines Health Care Proposals
The Columbus Dispatch on Monday examined the McCain health care proposal as part of a series on health care and the presidential election. The McCain "prescription for health care reform relies on an old-fashioned Republican remedy: competition in the marketplace," according to the Dispatch. However, "McCain's plan is vague about cost savings according to the Dispatch (Johnson/Candisky, Columbus Dispatch, 9/22).

Meanwhile, the Dispatch on Tuesday examined the Obama health care proposal, which is "modeled" in part on the Massachusetts health insurance law. According to health care experts, the Obama proposal would "get more coverage for uninsured people" but would "take a huge increase in federal spending to do so" (Candisky/Johnson, Columbus Dispatch, 9/23).

Editorial
Obama would end the "travesty" of the 46 million U.S. residents who lack health insurance, but McCain "has a bizarre plan to deregulate health insurance and charge workers income tax on coverage they receive through employers, in an attempt to force them to seek private policies," a Charleston Gazette editorial states.

The editorial cites a recent article by McCain in which he discussed regulation of the health insurance market. The editorial criticizes the deregulation of the health insurance market that McCain has proposed, adding, "Deregulation of banking has dragged America into a financial nightmare."

The editorial states, "America needs a national single-payer insurance system that would cut medical costs drastically," adding, "By trying to help commercial insurers reap fat profits, the McCain plan would be a stride in the wrong direction" (Charleston Gazette, 9/24).

Broadcast Coverage

• WBUR's "On Point" on Wednesday examined the McCain and Obama health care proposals. The segment includes comments from David Cutler, an economist at Harvard University and chief health care adviser to Obama; Gail Wilensky -- an economist, senior fellow at Project HOPE, adviser to McCain and contributor to the McCain proposal; and Julie Rovner, health policy correspondent for NPR and author of "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z" (Ashbrook, "On Point," WBUR, 9/24).
  
  
• CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday examined allegations by Obama that McCain has proposed deregulation of the health insurance market similar to recent deregulation of the banking industry. The segment includes comments from McCain, and CNN anchors Kiran Chetry and John Roberts (Cho, "American Morning," CNN, 9/23). A transcript of the program is 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.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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