PUBLISHED: February 19, 2010

Poll limns provisions of a more limited health-care reform bill

By Shailagh Murray  |  The Washington Post  |  Link to article

If Democrats can't find the votes to advance a massive health-care overhaul, they may be forced to scale back their ambitions. But what might a more limited bill include?

The children's advocacy group First Focus released poll results Thursday showing the popularity of 10 leading provisions included in the legislation that ran aground last month in the Senate, after Democrats there lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Massachusetts special election.

Voters may not like the pending bill, but the child advocates' survey suggests they overwhelmingly support certain elements of it -- providing a possible roadmap to a compromise. The issues are certain to be on the table next Thursday when Democrats and Republicans meet for a White House health-care summit.

Here are the provisions, ranked by First Focus according to public support:

1) A mechanism to ensure that all children have health care coverage: 89% overall support (75% strongly support)

2) Tax credits to small businesses to help defray the cost of providing health benefits to workers: 88% overall support (62% strongly support)

3) Insurance market reforms that offer an opportunity for young adults up to age 26 to continue coverage on their parents' plan: 82% overall support (51% strongly support)

4) Funding to states to establish a marketplace, known as an "insurance exchange," where consumers and small business could buy health care coverage: 80% overall support (47% strongly support)

5) Insurance market reforms that would stop insurers from charging women more than men: 78% overall support (62% strongly support)

6) Changes to Medicare that would reduce growth in payments to doctors and hospitals while rewarding those who provide high-quality, lower-cost care: 74% overall support (44% strongly support)

7) Insurance market reforms that prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions: 73% overall support (55% strongly support)

8) Incentives for states to expand Medicaid to cover childless adults and parents: 71% overall support (42% strongly support)

9) Insurance market reforms that prohibit health plans from charging patients more for going outside their network in an emergency: 70% overall support (52% strongly support)

10) Changes to Medicare that would narrow a gap in Medicare coverage of prescription drugs, sometimes known as the "doughnut hole": 67% overall support (41% strongly support)

The telephone survey was commissioned by First Focus, a bipartisan group that receives private foundation funding, and conducted by Opinion Research Corp., using a national probability sample of 1,013 adults comprising 510 men and 503 women. The survey was completed during the period of January 28-31, 2010. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3%.