For months leading up to today's first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were leading the polls. Despite Barack Obama's recent surge, the state's physicians are concerned, the change needed in healthcare finance might be beyond the scope of any new president.
A new survey released by the New Hampshire Medical Society shows that doctors are looking for more drastic change in U.S. healthcare than has been heretofore discussed. An overwhelming majority, some 81 percent of respondents to the survey, are looking for universal access, or some sort of public intervention to guarantee coverage for every American.
The December NHMS survey of 514 responding New Hampshire physicians is a fair demographic picture of the state, according to Seddon Savage, MD, president of NHMS.
Though the survey might not be a scientifically conclusive, it does paint a clear picture.
Savage said the Society cannot and does not endorse any one particular party or candidate and plans for advocacy are still in the works. A strategy for change will be difficult because opinions of the doctors range in extremes - some are calling for universal coverage paid for by the government, while others strongly feel healthcare should be solely a free-market venture, she said.
"I think what we can say is that we all really believe that any movement toward universal coverage is going to bring down costs," Savage said. "We think all plans have some strengths and some weakness, but we are certain that over the next four years there will be some constructive conversations about healthcare and we are excited about that."
Savage said the Society took the survey after it became aware that more and more doctors were talking about some sort of universal access, a form of coverage that may involve federal payments but not necessarily a single-payer federal healthcare system.
Savage said she is aware that the 2008 presidential candidates' plans differ from one another, but most would preserve a central role for private insurance companies and would maintain a regulated market-based system - the opposite of what the majority of N.H. physicians would like to see.
The NHMS survey of doctors was released last month even as the American College of Physicians issued an endorsement for universal care.
It's not surprising to see the change in doctors' opinions about healthcare cropping up across the nation, Savage said. Doctors are frustrated with increasing administrative burdens and the limited access to healthcare that many American's face.
None of the front-running candidates are calling for a single-payer system, but all are calling for significant financial changes in U.S. healthcare.
Clinton's American Health Choices Plan would offer quality, affordable healthcare that is not government-run and doesn't create a new bureaucracy, she said in October. McCain has said he would push for tax credits to allow for the purchase of healthcare insurance, but would not mandate that everyone have coverage.