Health care system slammed

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In a dramatic shift in public attitudes, more than two-thirds of California voters now say they are unhappy with the health care system and increasing numbers favor a government-run system covering all state residents, a new Field Poll revealed Tuesday.

The survey of 536 registered voters showed that 69 percent are dissatisfied with the health care system in California, with 42 percent saying they are "very dissatisfied" and 28 percent saying they are content with the current system.

Those numbers -- in a poll taken Aug. 3-12 -- contrast starkly with responses to a similar Field Poll last December. Then, 51 percent of voters said they were satisfied with the way the health care system was functioning, compared with 44 percent who were dissatisfied.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the California Field Poll, said the shift in attitudes seems to reflect reactions to a political drumbeat led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers insisting the state health care system needs fixing.

Schwarzenegger has advanced a $12 billion plan to cover some 6.5 million uninsured Californians. His proposal would expand the state's health insurance program for the poor -- Medi-Cal -- and require employers that don't provide coverage to pay 4 percent of payroll costs to help subsidize residents who can't afford insurance.

But the Republican governor has strenuously rejected a single-payer health care bill, Senate Bill 840 by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, calling the legislation to abolish private health care insurance "government-run health care."

"At one level, the public is taking his message that the health care system is broken and needs to be fixed," DiCamillo said. "The public pretty much takes him (Schwarzenegger) at his word, and more and more they are dissatisfied with the system.

"But as more people get dissatisfied ... the more likely they are to support a state government-run health care system."

Some 36 percent of voters in the most recent poll say they now support replacing the current health care system in California with a state government-run system covering all residents.

That's up from 24 percent who supported a government-run system in December 2006.

In the December poll, 52 percent of California voters said they favored a plan to overhaul health care by making changes within the existing framework of health insurance and by sharing responsibility among employers, the state and individuals.

In the latest poll, support for this so-called "shared responsibilities" approach dropped to 33 percent of voters -- 3 percentage points less less than the support for a government-run system.

Meanwhile, the percentage of voters who support relying on free-market competition to improve the health care insurance system dropped from 18 percent last December to 14 percent in the recent poll.

"If anything, the poll says the Legislature should think broadly about health care reform, and the cynicism will only increase if nothing gets done," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a group advocating expanding health care through both government and employer programs.

"Clearly, voters are in the mood for broad change."

If so, they don't have much confidence in the ability of state leaders to come up with a solution.

Some 58 percent of Field Poll respondents said they doubt the Legislature and the governor will be successful in passing significant health care reform this year. Thirty-six percent said they expect state government will enact some meaningful legislation.

"I think the results tell us that we need to have affordable coverage for all Californians and there's a strong sense of urgency for doing that," said Chris Ohman, CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, which represents 39 private and public health plans covering 21 million state residents.

Ohman said the voter attitudes -- and Tuesday's passage of the state budget -- could force the Legislature to undertake a "serious discussion" of health coverage.

Besides Schwarzenegger's health care plan and Kuehl's single-payer proposal, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata are backing a plan to impose a higher threshold on employers. Assembly Bill 8 would require them to spend 7.5 percent of payroll toward employee health coverage or pay the money into a government health insurance pool.

"There is really no consensus within the voting public in how to best reform the system," DiCamillo said.

But he said rising support for a government-run program may have been influenced by Michael Moore's recent documentary, "Sicko." The movie assails private, for-profit health care.

"When you calculate the numbers from the box office, the movie wasn't all that huge," DiCamillo said. "But the publicity it generated certainly raised the level of anxiety about the (health care) system."

The percentage of state voters saying they were "very dissatisfied" with health care jumped from December, soaring from 27 percent to 50 percent among Democrats, from 11 percent to 34 percent among Republicans, and from 20 percent to 37 percent among nonpartisans.

But while 47 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of independents favor a government-run system, only 19 percent of Republicans agree.

"There is no question that people are frustrated with the high cost of health care and are concerned about getting and keeping insurance," said Vince Sollitto, spokesman for the California Chamber of Commerce. "But turning over health care to the same government bureaucracy that brought us the Department of Motor Vehicles ... is not the answer, and Californians know that."

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