Survey Results: Health Care

1. Which of the following statements do you think best describes the state of the American health care system today?

2. In this election, the health care debate centers on the increasing number of Americans without health insurance. How urgent a problem do you think this is?

3. Both presidential candidates promise to improve access to health insurance, but in different ways. Barack Obama favors guaranteed coverage through purchase of a national health plan. John McCain favors a market-based strategy including tax incentives for individuals to purchase private coverage. Which approach do you support?

4. Which candidate do you trust more to handle the issue of uninsured children in America?

5. Which do you think is a more serious problem: providing health insurance to the uninsured, or keeping health care costs down for average Americans?

6. Are you personally satisfied or dissatisfied with the total cost of your health care?

7. In your view, how high should the following problems rank on the next president’s to-do list for the health care system? (1-5; the higher the number, the higher the priority)

Lack of access to health insurance:

Rising cost of health insurance:

Lack of access to quality medical care:

Insurance companies refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions:

Regulation of the private insurance market:

Regulation of the safety of prescription drugs:

Rising cost of prescription drugs:

8. Even though the practice is illegal, many Americans now buy prescription drugs from Canada, where the drugs are cheaper than in the United States. Do you think the next president should work to make this practice legal?

9. When you cast your ballot for president in November, how strongly will the issue of health care affect your choice?

10. Overall, which presidential candidate do you think will do a better job handling the health care system?