Survey Finds Most Back Health Care Agenda

A nationwide public opinion survey has found strong support for the likely elements of President Clinton’s health care reform agenda, and 58% of the respondents expressed a willingness to pay a 3% national sales tax to help finance coverage for the 37 million uninsured Americans.

According to the poll, released Tuesday by the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation and Louis Harris & Associates, the President is likely to enjoy widespread public support for his overhaul agenda upon its introduction in early May.

“The burden is now on those who would oppose the President’s plan to undo that support,” said Drew E. Altman, president of Kaiser, an independent health care research foundation.

The telephone poll of 1,255 adults was conducted March 3-10, and it has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. It found that:

--82% support a government mandate that employers provide insurance to workers.

--87% back government-imposed limits on insurance premiums.

--86% endorse the creation of large consumer purchasing cooperatives to bargain with medical providers for the best quality and lowest prices.

--76% favor short-term price controls on doctors, hospitals and drug companies.

“The emerging Clinton plan has the potential to be very popular,” said Humphrey Taylor, president of Louis Harris & Associates. “But its ultimate fate in Congress may well depend on how strongly people believe that it will slow the inflation of health care costs.”

The results were shared earlier in the week with members of the White House Task Force on National Health Care Reform. And an upbeat Clinton himself referred to such poll findings at his Tuesday afternoon press conference, saying:

“All the surveys show lopsided majorities of the American people willing to pay somewhat more, a little more, if they were guaranteed the security of health coverage. . . .”

It is unclear whether the task force will recommend a national sales tax, but Altman included a question about it because there has been some speculation about such a tax.

Fifty-eight percent responded positively when asked: “Would you support/oppose a 3% national sales tax on purchases other than food and medical care to move quickly to pay for health insurance for the uninsured?” Forty percent responded negatively, and 2% answered “not sure.”