* Poll shows two-thirds support for change
* Democrats, Republicans sharply divided on law
* Poll respondents show little trust in Washington
By David Ingram
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) – An overhaul of the U.S.
healthcare system remains popular even though Americans are not
enamored with the law that President Barack Obama signed in
2010, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The poll found that 44 percent of respondents favor the law,
and that an additional 21 percent oppose it because it doesn’t
go far enough – for a total of 65 percent.
The rest, 35 percent, said they oppose the law and major
changes to healthcare generally.
“People still very much hunger for something to fix the
healthcare system,” said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
The poll results arrive as the U.S. Supreme Court considers
whether to strike down the law’s mandate that most Americans
have health insurance. The court heard a third day of argument
on Wednesday and is likely to issue a decision by late June.
If the court strikes down all or part of the measure,
lawmakers would be left to sort through fallback options in a
highly polarized political atmosphere ahead of the Nov. 6
general election in which Obama seeks a second term.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online and is based on
answers from 1,953 Americans.
The data were weighted to the U.S. population by factors
such as gender and age. The poll is precise to plus or minus 2.6
percentage points, based on a measure that statisticians call a
credibility interval.
Jackson said the responses echo the findings of other polls.
“There’s wide recognition that the system, if not
necessarily broken, is breaking. It’s just that once you get
down to specifics, that coalition of people who want to change
the system breaks down,” he said.
The United States ranks first in spending on healthcare but
27th in life expectancy and 31st in health coverage, according
to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Annual healthcare spending totals $2.6 trillion, equal to
17.9 percent of U.S. annual gross domestic product, or $8,402
for every man, woman and child, said the Paris-based group in a
report on the health standards of its 34 members released in
November.
DEEP PARTISAN DIFFERENCES
The 2010 healthcare overhaul law is designed to make health
insurance nearly universal through a combination of the mandate,
government programs and subsidies.
The U.S. partisan divide is sharp on the subject of
healthcare, the poll found. A large majority of Democrats, 72
percent, said they favor the law, while 86 percent of
Republicans said they oppose it.
Self-identified independents split, with 55 percent in
opposition and 45 percent in favor.
Neither party has command of the healthcare issue, according
to the poll. Asked who they “trust the most to make sure that
all Americans have access to quality healthcare,” 46 percent
chose “none of these” or “don’t know.”
The options were Obama (14 percent), Democrats in Congress
(9 percent), Republicans in Congress (7 percent), pharmaceutical
companies (1 percent), insurers (6 percent) and doctors and
other health practitioners (18 percent).
“All of the actors in Washington have lost credibility, if
they had it in the first place, on this issue,” Jackson said.
(Editing by Howard Goller and Xavier Briand)
