One in five voters named health care as the issue of most concern to them in a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll: while health care is the top domestic issue, it is well behind Iraq as THE top issue.
But it isn’t ‘just’ health care; the poll data tells a much richer story about what voters want from Presidential candidates, and how they feel about the present contenders.
Respondents were more concerned about their out-of-pocket health care costs than any other cost-related issue. (This does not bode well for HSA account sales, and is likely a big reason why consumer-directed health care plans have not gained many members.)
Health care’s importance has declined in the last three months (26% to 21%), with immigration moving up significantly, especially among Republicans.
Among health care ‘sub-topics’, voters most wanted to hear candidates talk about covering the uninsured (36%) followed by health care costs (21%). Alas, quality barely registered, with only 2% of respondents naming quality as one of their top two interests.
The poll also asked respondents which candidate’s views on health care best reflected their’s; 59% of respondents could not name one. Democrats preferred Clinton while Republicans liked Giuliani – BUT no candidate from either party has much traction, and the Mayor led with a mere 9%.
And respondents named Obama as the candidate most focused on health care. This is nonsense; Edwards’ plan was out months before Obama’s, is much more detailed, and Edwards has been talking health care for months: the same can be said for Clinton.
What does this mean for you?
Health care is big among voters. Voters are clearly unhappy about out-of-pocket costs, and want to hear about covering the uninsured. I believe these two issues are related – anyone with a brain knows they could lose their coverage quickly and through no fault of their own.
It is still very early, but the early primaries make it increasingly likely we will be down to two candidates by early March. And then there will be very clear differences between the candidates.
Obamas plan is actually pretty good – comparable to Edwards. Neither are ideal. Neither supports single-payer at this point. But they’re making a step in the right direction. For all her rhetoric, Clinton hasn’t even released a reform plan yet.
You normally think of Clinton as the big healthcare reform candidate. But many people still blame her for failing in 1992. If she had done a better job back then, maybe we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now. She’s very evasive and seems to be pushing health care to the later years of her presidency.
Now there’s a report that she’s getting tons of campaign money from the health care industry. It doesn’t look good, especially for a candidate who’s a little hard for some people to trust in the first place. When you combine that with her high negatives, her Iraq vote, and all her other baggage, I think you’ll see more Dems moving toward Edwards and Obama, even though they really like Bill and would vote for him in a second. Gore is also looking better and better.