Poll: Confidence Grows

For Health Costs, Access

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are showing more confidence in their ability to get and afford the health care they need, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Whites, though, are likelier to feel that way more than minorities. And large numbers of people are worried about whether they will have future health coverage, with nearly one in four concerned that family medical bills will drive them into bankruptcy.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showed the public overwhelmingly considers President Barack Obama’s drive to overhaul health care a crucial weapon in the battle to end the country’s economic problems — one of the rationales he has used in his health care campaign. Eighty-five percent said it is important that Obama make reshaping health care part of his efforts to restore the economy.

The questions were asked in June, as Congress was working on health care in earnest and amid one of the worst recessions since the 1930s. Lawmakers have since moved slowly, with Republicans and moderate Democrats objecting to the overhaul’s roughly $1 trillion, ten-year price tag and to proposals to pay for it.

This survey comes as others have shown trouble for Obama on health care, including a Washington Post-ABC News survey released Monday that found approval of Obama’s handling of health care reform slipping below 50 percent for the first time.

The Johnson foundation study’s index of Americans’ attitudes about their recent health care experiences and future expectations rose by 3.6 points last month to 102.3. That index, based on people’s answers to nine questions, was 98.7 in May. The highest possible score is 200, the lowest zero.

Researchers said they were unsure why the measure had ticked up, but said the bump was significant. They suggested it might be due to expectations that Washington will improve the health care system.

“There’s been a lot of discussion of health reform,” said Lynn Blewett, director of a University of Minnesota health data center that analyzed the results. “So one hypothesis is consumers are feeling like something will happen.”

Those more optimistic feelings were not shared equally.

The index for white non-Hispanics was nearly 20 points higher than it was for minorities, 105.9 to 86.9. The reading for the one-third of people with the highest incomes was almost 30 points higher than it was for the one-third with the lowest earnings.

At the same time, 40 percent said they are worried about affording routine health care in the future, though that was down slightly from 46 percent in May. Similar numbers expressed worry about affording future care for serious medical problems or prescriptions.

Twenty-three percent said they were concerned about going bankrupt from medical bills. About the same number worry they will lose their health insurance in the next year.

About one in five said that in the past year they have forgone medical care or not filled prescriptions because of the expense.

“With the economy continuing to struggle, people are still feeling uneasy about their ability to pay for future and current health care needs,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Johnson foundation.

The foundation is a philanthropy that seeks to improve the nation’s health care. The data for the monthly index comes from a poll conducted by the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center.

The telephone poll of 508 people had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.