HEALTH POLITICS: More Americans Forgoing Needed Medical Care

As the economy continues to shed jobs, more and more American families are having trouble paying for health care. The latest health tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that six in ten surveyed (59 percent) say that they, or a family member, put off medical care due to cost in the past year.

Three in ten respondents (33 percent) had put off getting the health care they needed. A similar number said they had not filled a prescription (29 percent), and 27 percent said they had skipped a recommended medical test or treatment.

Another survey from Kaiser and NPR released this week found that the majority of respondents believed that Americans get both too many tests and treatments they don't need, while failing to get access to the medical care they do need.

Given the growing burden of health care, a solid majority of Americans (59 percent) believe it is more important than ever to take on health reform now. That level of support has remained consistently high, even in the face of worsening economic conditions.

The survey also dived into respondents' views on specific health reform issues.

On ways to expand coverage, a variety of options received strong majorities of support from respondents - 72 percent in favor of "requiring all Americans to have health insurance, with subsidies for those who can't afford it." See chart below:

On the issue of when Americans should be offered a choice between private health insurance plans and a public health insurance option, two-thirds of respondents supported the creation of a public plan similar to Medicare. As Nancy-Anne DeParle noted at a recent Kaiser briefing, people's opinions of a public health insurance option depend a lot on how you phrase the question. As the Kaiser poll shows, support for a public health insurance option decreased when respondents were told a certain plan had an "unfair advantage over private plans" or could lead to a single-payer government-run system. Support for a public plan increased if respondents were told it would increase choice among plans or would help drive down costs by increasing competition. To see how a public health insurance option could be structured to ensure fair competition with private plans on a level playing field, check out the recent policy paper from New America's Len Nichols and John Bertko.

Respondents expressed willingness to finance reform by raising taxes on the wealthy, or by imposing so-called "sin taxes" on unhealthy behaviors, ie. taxes on soda, alcohol, junk food or tobacco. But they were more resistant to the idea of changing the tax status of the most generous employer-sponsored health insurance policies.

Three-quarters of those surveyed viewed Medicare as "very important" for the country, and eight in 10 cited the rising costs of health care as the major cause of Medicare's fiscal problems.