Voters and Health Reform in the 2008 Presidential Election (New Eng Jour Med)

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http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/19/2050?query=TOC

Voters and Health Reform in the 2008 Presidential Election

Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., Drew E. Altman, Ph.D., John M. Benson, M.A., Mollyann Brodie, Ph.D.,
Tami Buhr, A.M., Claudia Deane, M.A., and Sasha Buscho, B.A.

The 2008 presidential election season has been unique in a number of ways. What insights about future health policy will the election give us? This is the second in a series of reports published in the Journal that examines this question.

The first report focused on health care's role in each party's presidential primaries. Its central conclusion was that the adherents to the two major political parties had substantially different visions of the future of health policy in America.1 These findings have been reinforced by subsequent surveys of each party's convention delegates. In these surveys, a random sample of attendees was asked what was more important: to provide health care coverage for all Americans or to hold down taxes. As compared with 7% of Republican delegates, 94% of Democratic delegates selected expanding coverage; 77% of Republican delegates and 3% of Democratic delegates said holding down taxes was more important.2

This second article looks at health care's role in the general election along several dimensions. First, we examine the public's perceptions of the state of health care. Second, we look at the role of health care in this election and compare its relative importance with that in previous elections. Third, we report and contrast the health policy views of registered voters who say they intend to vote for Senator John McCain with those of supporters of Senator Barack Obama. In analyzing these views, we will focus on the issues that have been raised by the presidential candidates during the campaign. Finally, we will discuss our view of the implications of our findings for the prospects of health reform in the next administration.

<Summaries of 11 national surveys and NEJM conclusions follow at link>

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/19/2050?query=TOC

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