Despite discord, consumers across political spectrum agree on the need for coverage
Despite the seemingly never-ending bickering and bombast over health care in the U.S., a new Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute survey shows people are in overwhelming agreement on many points.
The results, released Tuesday, also showed that such uniformity of opinion about the importance of health insurance crosses political boundaries.
Now in its third year, the survey asked a wideranging series of health care questions to 9,200 consumers across 15 states and more than 450 physicians earlier this summer. For the first time the survey looked at political leanings of a state to see if that influenced answers.
One of the most surprising findings was that despite what political punditry suggests, people in red, blue and swing states
are not so different in their views toward health care.
For instance, a nearly universal 98 percent of respondents considered health insurance important to them and their families. That percentage was virtually unchanged across all political stripes.
Also, 28 percent — the broadest agreement to the question — said basic coverage for all was the most important characteristic of a health care system. It was the same percentage in both states considered red and blue.
“The problem is no one is listening,” said Dr. Arthur “Tim” Garson, director of the policy center that launched the survey.
Garson said he was heartened that so many saw the great need for access to affordable health care in this country. The trouble always seems to be in how to get there.
The release of the study arrived the same week when some Republicans in the U.S. Senate again are moving to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. The new version of a health care overhaul — a promise that has proved elusive for both White House and Republicans in Congress — could be put to a vote within days.
The U.S. House narrowly passed a replacement measure in May after a series of fits and starts that began in January. The U.S. Senate then took its turn but came up short of Republican votes in late July.
The latest measure, backed by U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., like those that came before, seeks to dismantle much of the current law and give more power to states to design more customized coverage strategies. Democrats have dug in their heels in opposition, arguing that revising the current law is a better strategy to improve access to insurance and care.
Still, Garson fears that what is missing in both scenarios is the hard work of tackling health care costs and how damaging it can be to people — both those with and without insurance.
One of the key findings in the survey was that 49 percent of respondents said they had to cut other expenses to pay for health care. In addition, 55 percent of those surveyed said expense was the main reasons for lacking insurance. This was more pronounced in red states than in blue states, the survey found.
Affordability is also apparently in the eye of the beholder. Most people said they could not afford to pay about 2 percent of their income on health care.
This is significant because under the current law most everyone is required to carry health coverage. There is a hardship exemption if the cost exceeds 8.2 percent of a consumer’s income — suggesting a wide gulf between what consumers see as affordable and what lawmakers do.
In Texas, 61 percent said they pay more out of pocket now for health care than they did two years ago. Slightly more than half also said a candidate’s stance on health care will affect their state midterm election vote in 2018.
The criteria for determining a state’s hue was how a state voted in seven of the last 10 presidential elections. A swing state was determined if voters favored Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and Barack Obama in 2012.
Red states were Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee and Indiana. Blue states were California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Washington. Swing states were Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina.