By Randi F. Marshall
Rising health care costs and shrinking coverage have prompted a significant majority of Americans to support government regulation – or even universal health care, according to a survey released yesterday.
Two-thirds of those surveyed said they supported a health care “guarantee,” similar to the Canadian or British systems, according to the survey, which was issued by Results for America, a division of the Civil Society Institute, a think tank based in Newtown, Mass.
Additionally, 78 percent of Americans advocate government regulation of health care, similar to utilities such as gas and water, the survey found.
“What this survey shows is a nation in the grips of a health care crisis,” said Civil Society Institute president Pam Solo. “Americans are now prepared to embrace some tough ideas.”
That’s certainly true for Plainview resident Jeffrey Rosen. As a vice president for a retail company, Rosen, who is married and has two children, watched his employer’s health care costs rise 18 percent in the past year. As a result, Rosen is seeing fewer benefits, higher deductibles and a co-payment that has gone from $10 to $25 in the past five years.
“It just gets harder and harder and harder,” Rosen said. “But it doesn’t matter what it costs; I have to spend it.”
He said he expects the United States to head toward a socialized medicine system within 10 to 15 years.
“You have no choice,” he said. “You can’t deprive people of medical coverage.”
The Civil Society Institute says it is a nonprofit, independent organization that attempts to focus on social issues such as health care, education and the environment. Solo is a social activist and grassroots advocate who has focused on issues such as national health care, stem cell research and global warming.
The institute’s survey of 1,020 adults showed that while 85 percent of respondents have health insurance, the majority of them either have seen their coverage cut or their costs rise. That represents about 100 million Americans, according to the institute.
The survey’s results, particularly on the rising cost of health care, have been echoed by other experts and research groups. The Kaiser Family Foundation just announced its findings that health care premiums rose by double digits for the fourth year in a row in 2004.
“Health insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable in our country, especially for small employers,” said Kaiser president Drew Altman at a Washington, D.C., news conference last week. “We unfortunately should expect the ranks of the uninsured to continue to pick up.”
Nearly 20 percent said they skip or reduce dosages of their medications because they cannot afford their prescription drugs.
That translates into more than 20 million Americans, said Wayne Russum, senior researcher with Opinion Research Corp., which conducted and analyzed the survey.
As a result, more and more Americans are turning to Canada and other countries to buy their medications. More than a third are either purchasing or would consider purchasing their prescription drugs from Canada or elsewhere, the survey found. Russum said 6 percent – or as many as 10 million Americans – have bought their medications abroad. Among them are Rosen’s parents, who live in Florida and order their prescription drugs via mail-order, at a third of what it would cost here, Rosen said.
Solo said the American public was ahead of Washington politicians in their concern for health care costs.
She said, “The longer our leaders fail to take steps … the more millions of Americans will be squeezed out of our health care system and left out in the cold.”