Poll Finds Washington Voters Favor Private Health Care Solutions

Today we released the results of a poll conducted for AWB by Moore Information and Davis, Hibbits and Midgehall. Here's a copy of a more complete presentation and the summary memo from Bob Moore and Tim Hibbitts.

Washington voters rank health care among their leading concerns, want government to control costs, and prefer to have the health care system managed by the private sector. They also favor offering incentives to help businesses offer health insurance to their employees and prefer a market-driven health care plan to a universal plan managed and paid for by state government.

Currently, health care also ranks among the top legislative concerns, with a variety of proposals being considered, from a Washington Health Insurance Partnership (not a connector and, I'm sure, a Partnership not a WHIP, despite the unfortunate acronym) to plans to make it easier for young adults to get into the market. At the same time, new mandates are being added, including mental health parity. (That concept polled well in our survey.)

AWB lobbyists have been working with legislators in both parties to identify workable solutions to fill the gaps in insurance coverage affecting many Washingtonians. it's important that as lawmakers tackle this tangled issue they remember that there are a lot of things in our current system that are currently working well. For example, our survey found that 94 percent of voters are covered by health insurance and most of them (87 percent) are satisfied with their coverage. A lot of people in the state get good coverage through plans offered by associations and other member-governed groups. Yet, many voters (70 percent) do not believe that most people in the state have adequate health insurance coverage.

The concerns are legitimate. There are too many gaps in coverage. But the system is not a shambles. It needs shoring up - not a complete overhaul that jeopardizes what's working.