107946390_e957d5d809Some key findings from the 2009 Health Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute:

  • Between 68 percent and 88 percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat support health reform ideas such as national health plans, a public plan option, guaranteed issue, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, and employer and individual mandates.
  • Those experiencing health cost increases (53% of those with insurance) tend to say these increases have negatively affected their household finances. In particular, they indicate that increased health care costs have resulted in a decrease in contributions to a retirement plan (32 percent) and other savings (53 percent) and in difficulty paying for basic necessities (29 percent) and other bills (37 percent).
  • Many consumers report they are changing the way they use the health care system in response to rising health care costs. Seventy-nine percent of those who experienced increases in the amounts they are responsible for paying under their health insurance plan say these increased costs have led them to try to take better care of themselves, and 77 percent indicate they choose generic drugs more often. Sixty-seven percent
    also say they talk to the doctor more carefully about treatment options and costs and 64 percent go to the doctor only for more serious conditions or symptoms. One-quarter (25 percent) also report they did not fill or skipped doses of their prescribed medications in response to increased costs.

Clearly, many American households are trying to do what they can to contain health care costs–even if that means endangering their health.

We’re pretty much hitting the limits of what individual effort can do. It’s time for lawmakers to step up and create affordable, universal coverage.

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