Memo: The Healthcare System is Fucked
By Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress
While most commentary and much polling has focused on how voters feel about potential changes to the healthcare systems, pundits have mostly ignored the extent to which voters dislike the current system.
We asked voters to rate whether they approved or disapproved of certain aspects of our current healthcare system, and to say whether they thought the government should be more involved or less involved in the provision of health insurance and health coverage. We find that voters view the current system as deficient, and desire more government intervention.
Executive summary
Voters overwhelmingly support more government involvement in the provision of healthcare
Voters strongly approve of the ultimate objective of universal coverage, even if it means more government involvement in healthcare
Voters want more government involvement in the expansion of insurance coverage and in the quality of the insurance that is provided
The government programs responsible for providing healthcare to the poor, the elderly, and to veterans are by far the most popular parts of the status quo
The Affordable Care Act is responsible for the most popular part of private insurance acquisition, which is the inability of insurers to refuse customers on the basis of pre-existing conditions
Voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the fact their insurance companies can deny claims for any reason, and disapprove of the uncertainty foisted on them by the uneven coverage networks that are dictated by health insurance companies, including different sets of doctors, hospitals, and providers depending on the plan
Ultimately, uncertainty in the current system is the common cause of voters’ dissatisfaction with healthcare currently. New policies that help provide coverage and resolve ambiguities in the current system are overwhelmingly popular
