Senior caregivers rally for public option in Seattle (AP Photo/E. Thompson)
Americans might be far from united in their views regarding health care reform but at least the medical community seems to be forming a consensus.
The recent results of a New England Journal of Medicine poll of 2,130 doctors as first reported by Reuters finds that 63% are in favor of both public and private health care options. Just 27% said they wanted private options only with one in ten doctors favoring public options exclusively.
A majority of doctors (55%) also would like to see the Medicare age dropped a decade to cover those over the age of 55 according to the poll. Smaller surveys found that 73% of doctors said they ought to care for the uninsured and underinsured. 67% suggested they were willing to accept limits on payments for expensive drugs and procedures as a way to save money and make basic care available to more people.
The top-line results closely mirror those found from an April study of over 5,100 physicians conducted by the American Medical Association. In that poll physicians were broken down into four separate groups; primary care providers, medical specialists or sub-specialists, surgeons or surgical specialists, and all others. The figures were fairly consistent across the board. Medical specialists were most in favor of both private and public options to the tune of 62.4%. Surgeons were the least in favor grouping of physicians but still favored the dual program by 55.6%. Overall 58.3% of physicians favored both private and public option against just 23% who were opposed.
Perhaps as a result of his recent live speech to Congress recent polls have shown a slight up tick in the number of Americans favoring President Obama’s plans to reform health care as well as approving of his handling of the issue overall. Recently released a CNN/Opinion Research poll shows the President back over the 50-percentile threshold in the number of those approving of his handling of health care policy. This is up seven-points from their prior poll conducted before his live speech. Rasmussen also showed a post-speech bounce in the number of Americans supporting Obama’s proposals although recent evidence suggests that things may have settled back down to his pre-speech numbers mired in the mid-40 percentiles.
The President’s plan to overhaul the $2.5 trillion industry to help cover many of the 46-million Americans without health coverage continues to rage on as a hot social topic. Many are against the specifics of the plan whereas others deride it for the increased government control it employs and massive debt it would likely leave. Even with the American Medical Association’s opposition to public option a significant number of its 250,000 represented physicians and doctors at large are never the less well in favor of a public and private option.
Comments
The poll you cite asked physicians to select from among three options, which included private and public options. The poll DID NOT ask physicians if they supported the President's or Congress's health care proposals or revisions. A recent and more reliable poll from Investors Business Daily asked 1,376 physicians if they the proposed health care plan. 65% responded NO.
• Two-thirds, or 65%, of doctors say they oppose the proposed government expansion plan. This contradicts the administration's claims that doctors are part of an "unprecedented coalition" supporting a medical overhaul.
• Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if Congress passes the plan the Democratic majority and White House have in mind.
• More than seven in 10 doctors, or 71% — the most lopsided response in the poll — answered "no" when asked if they believed "the government can cover 47 million more people and that it will cost less money and the quality of care will be better."
www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=506199
45% of doctors would consider quitting if Obamacare passed.
Robert C. Baker thank you for your comments but I find the following noteworthy and necessary to post in rebuttal to your citation of the IBD/TIPP poll suggesting that most doctors are in fact opposed to the health care plan.
You can access the full story by following the link below. I also jotted down the first couple of paragraphs: www.fivethirtyeight.com/
"I'm flying 35,000 feet somewhere over Eastern Ohio now -- isn't technology wonderful? -- so I can only comment on this briefly, but the Investors' Business Daily poll purporting to show widespread opposition to health care reform among doctors is simply not credible. There are five reasons why:
1. The survey was conducted by mail, which is unusual. The only other mail-based poll that I'm aware of is that conducted by the Columbus Dispatch, which was associated with an average error of about 7 percentage points -- the highest of any pollster that we tested..."
Commenting on your last reply, by your math a 7% difference would mean the range of opposition could be any where from 58% (still considerablly more than half) or considerablly worse to 72% disapproving. Either way still a compelling case.
These numbers from the AMA are of AMA members, representing just 18% of all doctors. The AMA is in the tank for Obama. Most doctors don't support Obama or the AMA. The most recent polls:
• Two-thirds, or 65%, of doctors say they oppose the proposed government expansion plan. This contradicts the administration's claims that doctors are part of an "unprecedented coalition" supporting a medical overhaul.
It also differs with findings of a poll released Monday by National Public Radio that suggests a "majority of physicians want public and private insurance options," and clashes with media reports such as Tuesday's front-page story in the Los Angeles Times with the headline "Doctors Go For Obama's Reform."
Nowhere in the Times story does it say doctors as a whole back the overhaul. It says only that the AMA — the "association representing the nation's physicians" and what "many still regard as the country's premi
To continue: The AMA, in fact, represents approximately 18% of physicians and has been hit with a number of defections by members opposed to the AMA's support of Democrats' proposed health care overhaul.
• Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if Congress passes the plan the Democratic majority and White House have in mind.
More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, the government says. Projecting the poll's finding onto that population, 360,000 doctors would consider quitting.
Alexander I muse over your previous statements, but I wonder whether in your last post that you are again quoting that Investors Business Daily poll. If so, please don't. Erik and the guy from fivethirtyeight website are correct when it comes to at least that much...that poll was total crap. Both maniuplative and poorly done!
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