Business Health Survey Results
(December 1, 2001)
Excerpts from a survey sponsored by the California Nurses Association, California Medical Association, American Small Business Alliance, and the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights:
III. Your Views on the Future of Health Care
26. Currently, there are approximately 7 million Californians without health insurance. Do you believe in a universal health care system where all Californians should be guaranteed health care coverage - regardless of their employment or income status - or do you think the current system works fine?
58% - Support universal coverage 28% - Current system works fine 14% - Declined to state
27. Would you prefer a system that would guarantee benefits for all workers and dependents and establish set costs for health insurance premiums, but would require all businesses to participate?
48% - Yes 47% - No 5% - Declined to state
28. Would you prefer a system whereby employers no longer dealt with insurance companies directly, but instead gave employees paid vouchers to purchase health insurance on their own?
32% - Yes 63% - No 5% - Declined to state
29. Would you prefer a system where health insurance is not linked with employment, and instead all businesses pay to a health care fund a fixed percentage based on the company's size?
35% - Yes 55% - No 9% - Declined to state
30. Would you support this if it guaranteed that all your workers and their dependents were covered, and it would cost your business less than it pays now in health care costs?
70% - Yes 22% - No 8% - Declined to state
32. Which would you prefer? A. Health insurance plans would be administered by not-for profit organizations whose mission is to provide quality care at a reasonable cost. B. Health insurance plans be run by for-profit private corporations that answer to shareholders.
55% - Not-for-profits (A) 9% - Private corporations (B) 22% - Both (A&B) 7% - Other 6% - Declined to state
33. Do you support or oppose each of the following as a way to improve access to health care for the uninsured?
A health system, financed by taxpayers, in which all Californians would get their insurance from a single plan.
37% - Support 59% - Oppose 4% - Decline to state
Requiring businesses to cover and help pay the cost of private health insurance for their employees.
45% - Support 51% - Oppose 4% - Decline to state
Increasing government funding to expand community health clinics that serve the poor.
70% - Support 24% - Oppose 6% - Decline to state
Offering uninsured Americans income tax deductions, tax credits or other financial assistance to help them purchase private health insurance on their own.
62% - Support 34% - Oppose 4% - Decline to state
The full survey is available at: <http://www.businesshealthsurvey.org/survey/results_dec2001.pdf>http://www.businesshealthsurvey.org/survey/results_dec2001.pdf
Comment: Although this survey is not scientifically valid, it does give an impression of the trends in the thoughts of small business owners on health care reform after September 11. A few tentative conclusions are warranted.
* Business owners believe that the problems of the uninsured need to be addressed. * They remain concerned about their own costs in health care. * They are concerned about the intrusion of private, for-profit corporations. * They seem to understand the defective policies behind vouchers, but fail to understand similar implications of tax policies such as tax credits. * They believe that funding of community clinics is a solution for low income individuals (though no assessment was made as to whether they understood the inadequacies of this as a sole approach). * They remain unconvinced that a tax-payer supported "health system" using a "single plan" provides a satisfactory solution for achieving universal coverage.
This survey suggests that we no longer need to expend much more effort on educating the public on the problems that exist in health care, but that there is a pressing need to educate the public on the policy implications of the various approaches to reform.