Exploring The Public’s Views On The Health Care System: A National Survey On The Issues And Options

1. Exploring The Public’s Views On The Health Care System: A National Survey On The Issues And Options Marc L. Berk, Daniel S. Gaylin and Claudia L. Schur http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/25/6/w596#T1

2. Abstract Instead of assessing support for specific health reform initiatives, this study examines fundamental attitudes that shape views about the provision and financing of health insurance. Authors find strong support for equity and expansion of coverage, with few differences across sociodemographic groups, but some support for holding individuals responsible for health-related behavior. Consumers want to retain choice of plans and coverage for routine expense yet not bear additional financial burden. Compared with the rest of the United States, Californians’ views exhibit more reliance on individuals and provide additional caution about the difficulty of identifying acceptable trade-offs and reaching consensus.

3. Methods • The survey was conducted by telephone 14–19 July 2006. Using a random-digit-dialing approach, researchers interviewed 1,517 respondents nationally age eighteen and older. Because California accounts for approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, the sample yielded 148 California residents without any oversampling. Respondents were asked a series of questions generally focused on their views of how health insurance should be provided. • Interviewers made 4 attempts to reach a respondent at each phone number. The calls were made at different times and on both weekdays and weekends. The survey randomly selected a single respondent within each selected household. • The data were weighted to ensure a survey that is nationally representative with respect to key demographic variables. Weighting, however, cannot adjust for the differences in opinions that might be correlated with a decision to participate; thus, this survey—like all surveys—could be subject to non-response bias. • All results discussed below were based on the weighted data. The weighting process took into account the disproportionate probabilities of household selection resulting from the number of separate telephone lines and the probability associated with the random selection of an individual household member.

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8. Exhibit 5 May be hard to reach any sort of consensus!