ANN ARBOR, Michigan — The latest Thomson Reuters PULSE Healthcare Survey suggests that more Americans than not are skeptical about health care reform’s ability to improve the cost or quality of care.
The longest-running survey of consumer attitudes about health care took the pulse of more than 3,000 Americans through phone surveys during the week of July 28 and Aug. 9, Thomson Reuters Healthcare said in a release. That was just prior to the summer recess for Congress, which has been marked with contentious meetings about health care reform.
The survey found that a minority of respondents (37.9 percent) believes health care reform will improve the cost of care. A smaller minority, 30.3 percent, sees reform improving the quality of care, according to Thomson Reuters. Meanwhile, 44.5 percent of respondents think the federal government should plan an “active” or “very active” role in overseeing health care, while 53.3 percent said the government should be “somewhat active” or “not active at all.”
Automation Didn’t Dehumanize Care. Bad Systems Did.
We have the opportunity to design systems that give people greater capacity for the work where human presence matters most: listening, understanding, reassuring, deciding, and caring.
Seven in 10 respondents strongly agree that Americans are “entitled to the best health care available,” but only 46.3 percent of respondents think the U.S. health care system is the best. Most respondents are satisfied with their doctors’Â care and their insurers’ coverage, however only about half are satisfied with they amount they pay out-of-pocket for care, according to Thomson Reuters.
Just over half of respondents (58 percent) said they would be willing to bear a tax increase of 1 percent or more to pay for health care reform. Meanwhile, only three demographic groups — those under 35 years old, those that earn less than $50,000 a year, and women — support the requirement that everyone have health insurance. And older Americans are the most satisfied with the status quo and most resist reforms that might change it.
“It’s easy to see why there is considerable disagreement about health care reform,” said Gary Pickens, chief research officer for the Healthcare & Science business of Thomson Reuters and lead author of the study. “People are generally satisfied with what they have, skeptical that change will improve the system, and divided on the role the government should play.”
All of that adds up to a challenge for legislators to find the middle ground in their reform efforts, Pickens said.
The Healthcare Payments Industry Faces a Perception Challenge
Healthcare payments are no longer about transactions. It’s about controlling the revenue cycle. And increasingly, that control is not sitting with ISOs.
More stories worth a read:
- New study: State-by-state impact of proposed Medicare cuts to skilled nursing facility care for seniors (American Health Care Association)
- Medical professionals voice their concerns about health care reform (Medina Gazette)
- The scary history of failed health overhauls (NPR Health blog)
- Step-by-step: FDA wireless health regulation (mobihealthnews)
- Lilly spent almost $3.6 million lobbying government in the second quarter (Associated Press/Indianapolis Star)
- CDC’s advice to parents: Swine flu shots for all (Washington Post)
- Inovio, fueled by swine flu fear, reinvents itself as developer of ‘universal’ new vaccines (Xconomy | San Diego)
- GE Healthcare and TomTec Imaging Systems announce strategic cooperation in cardiology ITÂ (BusinessWire)
- Ohio State expands use of electronic medical records (Techlife Columbus blog)
- Ohio State hosting personalized health care conference in October (Techlife Columbus blog)
- BioOhio, EWI clinch approval for Edison grants (Business First of Columbus)
- Franklin & Seidelman hires health care executive Larsen to head new marketing initiative (BusinessWire)
- Sherrod Brown announces more than $370,000 in grants to improve services at three Ohio health centers (Sherrod Brown)
- Gloucester Nails down $29 million to move ahead with late-stage cancer drug (Xconomy | Boston)
- Nanotherapeutics awarded $3o.9 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases contract to develop inhaled antiviral for prophylaxis and treatment of smallpox (BioSpace)