Every month, the Kaiser Family Foundation does a tracking poll that’s devoted specifically to health care and health insurance.
The results they get from this poll are pretty insightful, and provide a decent gauge of where the current public opinion stands in regards to the health industry.
Here are a few of the juicy tidbits from the April tracking poll, as reported by Medical News Today:
- 59% say health care reform is “more important than ever ”
- 36% skipped doctor and dentist check ups because of high costs
- 26% say someone in their household had trouble paying health care bills in the past year
- 71% support raising taxes for high-income Americans to pay for health care reform
- 67% “strongly ” or “somewhat ” favor a public health insurance plan to compete with private plans
So what does it all mean?
We see that public option is starting to heavily lean in the direction of “action now ” on health care and health insurance reform, and that a growing number of Americans are starting to feel the burn of rising costs.
Politically speaking, this is great news for lawmakers itching to pass sweeping reform. The Kaiser poll suggests they’ll have majority support, and may be able to push through the broadest and most comprehensive health care legislation in recent history.
But take these polls with a grain of salt. While they’re a snapshot of public opinion in the now, things can change like the blink of an eye — especially with our current and fluctuating economic problems.
And as most can guess, Democrats and Republicans don’t so much agree on how we go about reform.
Ah the joys of health care politics.