|
 |
 |
|
Support for government guarantee of healthcare hits record low
For the first time in more than a decade, a majority of Americans say it's not the government's responsibility to ensure access to healthcare.
A new Gallup survey shows an all-time low in public support for a government guarantee of healthcare coverage — just as President Obama's healthcare law is bringing that guarantee dramatically closer to reality.
Only 44 percent said it's the government's responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to healthcare coverage, while 54 percent said healthcare access is not the government's responsibility.
It's the first a majority of the public has opposed a government guarantee.
Gallup has been asking the question for 12 years, and support for a government guarantee of healthcare has fallen steadily under President Obama.
The drop has mostly come from Republicans, Gallup said. Thirty-eight percent of Republicans said in 2007 that healthcare access was the government's responsibility, down to just 12 percent now.
Most voters in the Gallup survey have never believed the government should provide healthcare benefits — only that it should guarantee access to some form of coverage. Support for a system based on private insurance is roughly unchanged.
Americans are deeply unsatisfied with the U.S. healthcare system, and they have been for years. The latest survey found that 69 percent of Americans think the healthcare system is in a state of crisis or has major problems, down slightly from its peak of 73 percent in 2010.
But asked specifically about the quality of healthcare coverage in the U.S., 41 percent said it's "good" or "excellent" — a record high.
Sixty-two percent gave high marks to the quality of healthcare in the U.S. The U.S., though, spends far more on healthcare than than other industrialized countries, but still has a more unhealthy population.
