The Public and the Emerging Debate over National Health Insurance

Abstract

Opinion surveys conducted this year indicate that nearly three of four Americans (72 to 73 percent) favor some form of a national health care program. 1,2 In fact, as Figure 1 shows, support for one type of proposal — a plan financed entirely by government — is now at the highest point since World War II. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The public's enthusiasm for such a program now approximates the level of support for Medicare in the year before its enactment. 11 Nevertheless, a closer examination of the survey results reveals that the public holds a number of apparently conflicting views about the preferred design of a national… © 1990, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.