Americans cite access over cost in healthcare poll
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As Congress braces for the next stage in the fight over healthcare reform, a new poll show that Americans say that access, rather than cost, is the most urgent problem.
In a Gallup poll released this morning, 32% of those surveyed said access to healthcare was their most pressing concern. That was significantly larger than the 18% who cited cost as the most urgent issue.
Access and costs are key issues as the Senate prepares for next week’s debate on its healthcare bill. The House has passed a different version that will have to be reconciled before a final bill can be sent to President Obama.
About 83% of legal residents younger than 65 have healthcare insurance. The House bill would increase that to about 96% while the Senate bill would increase it to 94%.
The Senate bill would cost an estimated $848 billion over 10 years while the House bill has an estimated net cost of $894 billion over the decade. But opponents sharply dispute those numbers, arguing they are based on cuts in spending that are not assured and penalties and fees that are unclear.
Republicans and Democrats will spar about both issues in the next several weeks and throughout the 2010 mid-term election cycle. Only one Republican in the House crossed the aisle to vote for healthcare reform. No Republican backed the weekend’s cloture vote in the Senate.
Both houses are in recess for the Thanksgiving holidays, but that hasn’t stop the highly partisan debate.
“We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) “But we’re not going to not pass a bill.”
Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas argued that the Senate bill put an unfair burden on businesses and the economy, still trying to recover from the recession.
--Michael Muskal
