Public support for health reform moved modestly upwards in September, according to the latest Kaiser Health tracking poll.
According to the poll, 57 percent of Americans now believe that healthcare reform is more important than ever – up from 53 percent in August. The proportion of Americans who think their families would be better off if health reform passes is up 6 percentage points (42 percent versus 36 percent in August), and the percentage who think the country would be better off is up 8 percent (to 53 percent from 45 percent in August).
Nevertheless, a substantial share of the public (47 percent) favors taking longer to work out a bipartisan approach to health reform, compared to 42 percent who would prefer to see Democrats move faster on their own.
The Kaiser results indicate that the public continues to view the action in Washington with mixed feelings: The largest share (68 percent) said they are "hopeful" about reform, but 50 percent are "anxious" and 31 percent are "angry."
"Opinion in the coming months is hard to predict, but as the focus shifted from the town halls and hot button issues to the president, the Congress and the core issues in the legislation that affect people the most, the summer downturn in support was largely erased," said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman.
According to the Kaiser survey, many Americans continue to say they back individual reform components designed to expand coverage, including an individual mandate (68 percent), an employer mandate (67 percent) and an expansion of state programs such as Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (82 percent).
The component that draws the strongest support across the political spectrum is the requirement that health insurance companies cover anyone who applies, even if they are sick or have a pre-existing condition. Overall, eight in 10 people support that idea.
When it comes to paying for reform, two ideas now under discussion among policymakers garner initial majority support. Fifty-seven percent of the public say they would support "having health insurance companies pay a fee based on how much business they have" and 59 percent would support "having health insurance companies pay a tax for offering very expensive policies."
Seniors are less convinced than others that health reform will benefit them, but they, too, have become less pessimistic since August. The share of seniors who think their family would be better off if reform passes climbed 8 percentage points from August, from 23 percent to 31 percent. Twenty-eight percent thought they would be worse off, and 33 percent said it wouldn't make a difference. Fifty-five percent of seniors said they were 'confused."
The survey found that 49 percent of seniors oppose the idea of limiting future increases in Medicare provider payments as a way to help pay for healthcare reform. But 59 percent would back the same limits if they were framed as helping to "keep Medicare financially sound in the future."
"Some Medicare changes being discussed in the health reform debate can be seen as strengthening Medicare for the long term or as harming it. Which of these messages breaks through could ultimately shape seniors' reactions," said Mollyann Brodie, vice president for public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
While policymakers debate solutions, the problem of high health care costs remains. One-third of Americans (33 percent) say they or someone in their household has had problems paying medical bills over the past year. That is up 9 percentage points from August and represents the highest level in nearly a year.
A majority of Americans (56 percent) also say they have put off care over the last 12 months because of cost reasons, with many saying that they had relied on home remedies or over-the-counter drugs instead of seeing a doctor (44 percent), skipped dental care or other checkups (35 percent) or skipped a recommended medical test or treatment (28 percent).