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 Seniors Unhappy with Medicare Bill, All Adults Want Imported Drugs:
New Survey
New Healthcare Survey Says Nation Ranks Healthcare
As A Top Priority
Jan. 11, 2005 – Seniors
are unhappy with the Bush administration’s Medicare program and 73
percent say lawmakers should work to fix the problem. Among all adults,
70 percent favor Washington allowing the importation of lower-cost
drugs. These are some of the findings in a new survey released today by
The Kaiser Family Foundation. “Health Care Agenda for the New
Congress” was prepared by the Harvard School of Public Health Survey.
The survey finds that
senior citizens remain significantly more likely to say they have an
unfavorable (46%) than a favorable (29%) view of the Medicare law
enacted in December 2003, while one in four (25%) say that they don’t
know enough to offer an opinion. And, a giant 81 percent say the problem
is that it is too complicated. (see
graphs at bottom of article).
Seven in 10 seniors
(70%) say that lawmakers in Washington should work to fix problems in
the law. Much smaller numbers favor repealing the law (12%) or leaving
the law as is (16%). These numbers are essentially unchanged from the
results of a July 2004 survey of people with Medicare.
Overall, U.S. adults
rank health care issues third when asked to name the single most
important priority for the President and Congress to address. Fewer
Americans cite health care issues (10%) than the war in Iraq (27%) or
economic issues (17%). Terrorism/national security (10%) tied with
health care as the third-most cited issue.
The public favors
reducing jury awards in malpractice lawsuits and allowing drugs to be
imported from Canada, but ranks them relatively low on a list of 12
health care priorities for President Bush and Congress to address this
year, according to a new post-election survey conducted by the Kaiser
Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
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Just over a quarter (26%) of the public cite reducing malpractice jury
awards as a top priority for the President and Congress, ranking 11th on
the list, just ahead of increasing federal funding for stem cell
research (21%). Just under a third (31%) cite allowing drugs to be
imported from Canada as a top priority, ranking eighth on the priority
list.
At the top of the list, almost two thirds (63%) of U.S. adults cite
lowering the costs of health care and health insurance as a top priority
for the President and Congress, followed by making Medicare more
fiscally sound for the future (58%) and increasing the number of
Americans with health insurance (57%).
The survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,396
adults and was conducted from Nov. 4-28, 2004.
Malpractice reforms
The survey finds that the public sees malpractice lawsuits as a
significant factor in rising health care costs and generally sees the
number of lawsuits as a bigger problem than the size of jury awards.
“The public isn’t pushing hard for malpractice reform, but will be happy
to have it if the lawyers, doctors, Administration and Congress can
agree to a plan,” Foundation President Drew E. Altman, Ph.D., said.
Almost a third (32%) of people say that the most important factor in
causing rising malpractice insurance rates is too many lawyers filing
unwarranted lawsuits, while 15% say it is the high profits of
malpractice insurers, 14% say it is too many patients making unwarranted
claims against doctors, and 11% say it is too many doctors making
mistakes. While most of the policy debate has focused on putting caps on
jury awards, 9% cite “too many juries making excessive awards” as the
most important reason malpractice costs are rising.
More than seven in 10 (72%) people say they would favor legislation to
prohibit people from filing medical malpractice lawsuits unless a
qualified independent medical specialist reviewed the claim and thought
it was reasonable. More than six in 10 (63%) say they would favor
legislation that would limit the amount of money that can be awarded as
damages for pain and suffering to someone suing a doctor for
malpractice.
Among the 63% who support a cap on damages for pain and suffering, most
favor a relatively high cap; 30% of this group favors a cap of $1
million or higher, 23% favor a $500,000 cap, 16% favor a $250,000 cap,
and 15% favor a cap of less than $250,000. (The remaining 17% say they
either don’t know or wouldn’t say what cap they would favor.)
Most of the public also believe that both damage caps and requiring
independent medical review would have at least some impact on the
overall cost of health care in the United States. About seven in 10 say
that a law limiting pain and suffering awards would help a lot (32%) or
some (37%) in reducing the overall cost of health care, while a quarter
(25%) say it would not help much or not at all. Similarly, about
three-quarters say that a law requiring independent medical review of
claims would help a lot (32%) or some (43%) in lowering overall health
costs, while about a quarter (23%) say it would not help much or not at
all.
Republicans (37%) are more likely than Democrats (17%) to say that
reducing jury awards in malpractice lawsuits should be a top priority,
and they are also more likely to favor various malpractice reforms and
to think that these reforms would help in reducing the overall cost of
health care in the U.S.
Health care costs
Lowering the cost of health care and insurance was named as a top
priority for the President and Congress by 63% of the public, and by an
equal share of Republicans (61%) and Democrats (61%). Asked about the
causes of rising health care costs, 29% of Americans say that high
profits made by drug and insurance companies are the most important
factor, while 22% say the number of malpractice lawsuits and 15% say the
amount of greed and waste that occurs in the health care system. In
comparison, 7% cite the costs of medical technology and drugs, a factor
many health care experts cite as a major driver of higher health care
costs.
Specific proposals to lower prescription drug costs
The survey finds that the public continues to support two prominent
policy proposals for lowering the cost of prescription drugs: allowing
the importation of drugs from Canada, and having the federal government
negotiate with drug companies for lower prescription drug prices for
people with Medicare.
Almost three quarters (73%) say they favor changing the law to allow
Americans to buy prescription drugs imported from Canada if they think
they can get a lower price, with nearly as many (69%) agreeing that the
change would make medicines more affordable without sacrificing safety
or quality.
Seven in 10 (70%)
disagree that allowing imported drugs from Canada would lead U.S. drug
companies to do less research and development, and more than half (57%)
disagree that it would expose Americans to unsafe medicines from other
countries.
Eight in 10 (80%) say they favor changing the law to allow the federal
government to use its buying power to negotiate with drug companies to
try to get a lower price for prescription drugs for people with
Medicare.
Majorities say that such a change would make medicines more affordable
for people on Medicare (77%), and that it makes sense because the
government already negotiates prices for the Departments of Defense and
Veterans Affairs (67%). While 54% say such a change will mean government
price controls on prescription drugs, a smaller share (29%) say it would
lead U.S. drug companies to do less research and development.
Majorities also believe that each of these measures would provide at
least some help in reducing prescription drug costs overall. More than
three-quarters say that allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs
imported from Canada would help a lot (33%) or some (44%) in reducing
prescription drug costs in the United States, while 18% say it would not
help much or not at all.
Similarly, eight in 10
say that allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug
companies for lower drug prices for people on Medicare would help a lot
(28%) or some (53%) in reducing prescription drug costs, while 17% say
it would not help much or not at all.
“People are really worried about their drug costs, and they want the
government to do something about it,” said Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D.,
Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Expanding health coverage for the uninsured
The public places a relatively high priority on increasing the number of
Americans with health insurance. More than half (57%) cite the issue as
a top health care priority for the President and Congress – making it
the third most-cited health-care priority behind lowering health-care
costs and making Medicare more financially sound for the future.
However, the public does not agree on a single best approach and is
relatively evenly divided on a number of potential policy approaches.
When asked to choose their most preferred option to increase the number
of Americans with health insurance, 23% say offering businesses tax
deductions or other financial assistance to help them provide health
insurance to their employees, while 17% say offering tax deductions or
other financial assistance to help individuals pay for private insurance
and 17% say expanding state government programs such as Medicaid.
Smaller shares (between 12% and 15%) say they most prefer other options,
such as a national government health plan, expanding Medicare to cover
people under age 65, and requiring businesses to offer health insurance
for their employees.
Americans are also divided on whether they are willing to pay more,
either in taxes or in higher health insurance premiums, to expand
coverage to the uninsured – with 51% saying they would not be willing to
pay more, and 45% saying they would be willing to pay more. Another 4%
were unsure. Democrats (59%) are significantly more likely to be willing
to pay more than Republicans (36%).
Findings on other key health topics
When asked about the
term “health savings account,” three in 10 U.S. adults (30%) say they
have heard the term and know what it means, while another 17% have heard
the term and don’t know what it means, and more than half (53%) say they
have not heard the term. Four percent of the public overall say they are
currently enrolled in a health savings account.
At a time when there is
growing debate about employer-based health insurance, the survey finds
that the public is still attached to this system to which it has become
accustomed.
Three-quarters (75%) of
the public say that most people would be better off if they got their
health insurance through their employer, compared with 17% who say they
would be better off purchasing their own policy. Among those with
employer-sponsored coverage, half (50%) say they would prefer to have
their employer pay for their insurance at work, while just 8% say they
would rather have their employer give them the cash to buy a policy on
their own (40% say it wouldn’t make much difference).
For the complete results
in pdf – Click Here
The
Kaiser Family Foundation is a
non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing
information and analysis on health care issues to policymakers, the
media, the health care community, and the general public. The foundation
is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.
Harvard School of Public Health is
dedicated to advancing the public's health through learning, discovery,
and communication. More than 300 faculty members are engaged in teaching
and training more than 800 students in a broad spectrum of disciplines
crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations
around the world.
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