Many U.S.
adults rank Health Care as important issue
in 2008 Presidential Election, Poll finds
[Nov
05, 2007] More than one-fourth of U.S.
adults rank health care as one of the two
most important issues in the 2008
presidential election, according to a
Washington Post/ABC
News poll released on Sunday. The
poll -- conducted by telephone between Oct.
29 and Nov. 1 -- included responses from a
random sample of 1,131 adults, with a margin
of error of plus or minus three percentage
points.
According to the
Post,
"three issues dominate the electoral
landscape, with the war in Iraq at the top
of the list," followed by the economy and
health care. The poll found that 27% of
adults ranked health care as one of the two
most important issues in the election.
Thirty-four percent of Democrats ranked
health care as one of the two most important
issues in the election, compared with 16% of
Republicans, the poll found.
In addition, among blacks, 38% ranked health
care as one of the two most important issues
in the election, and 20% ranked the issue as
the most important, according to the poll.
The poll also found that Democrats hold a
double-digit lead over Republicans as the
party most trusted to address the health
care issue (Balz/Cohen,
Washington Post,
11/4).
Quinnipiac University
Poll
A second poll conducted by
Quinnipiac University found that
the majority of U.S. voters believe the
federal government should ensure access to
adequate health care for all residents and
provide health insurance to those who cannot
afford coverage. The poll, conducted from
Oct. 23 to Oct. 29, included responses from
1,636 voters, with a margin of error of plus
or minus 2.4 percentage points.
According to the poll, 53% of voters ranked
access to health insurance as their highest
priority among health care concerns,
compared with 41% who ranked reduction of
costs as their highest priority. Seventy-one
percent of Democrats ranked access to health
insurance as their highest priority, and 80%
of Republicans ranked reduction of costs as
their highest priority, the poll found.
In addition, the poll found that 70% of
voters -- 87% of Democrats, 56% of
Republicans and 67% of independents --
believe the federal government should help
cover the cost of catastrophic care for
residents (O'Leary,
New Haven Register,
11/2).
Clinton Rejects
Charges About Secret Documents
Presidential candidate Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
on Sunday rejected allegations that she and
her husband, former President Bill Clinton,
have secret documents on her involvement in
health care reform efforts during the 1990s,
the
AP/Detroit News
reports.
She said, "There's been some
misunderstanding and some misrepresentation
about what the facts are." Clinton added,
"The National Archive controls and
administers presidential records; that's
what they do for every president," adding,
"My husband has not withheld a single
document" (Glover,
AP/Detroit News,
11/5).
Giuliani Defends
Cancer Ad
Presidential candidate and former New York
City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani (R) on Friday said
that he purposely used information from
2000, rather than today, on the five-year
survival rate for prostate cancer in Britain
in a recently launched campaign
advertisement,
Long Island
Newsday
reports (Gordon, Long Island
Newsday,
11/4).
In the radio ad, which began to air last
week in New Hampshire, Giuliani promotes his
health care proposal and discusses his
experience with prostate cancer. Giuliani
says, "I had prostate cancer, five, six
years ago. My chance of surviving cancer,
and thank God I was cured of it, in the
United States: 82%," adding, "My chances of
surviving prostate cancer in England: only
44% under socialized medicine." The
Commonwealth Fund last week in a
statement questioned the accuracy of the
five-year survival rate for prostate cancer
in Britain cited in the ad (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report,
10/31).
However, Giuliani said, "Those figures are
absolutely accurate as of the time that I
had (cancer), and they remain accurate
today," adding, "I made my decision about
what to do about prostate cancer in 2000.
The report is from the year 2000." He also
said that "those statistics have changed
slightly today," with a five-year survival
rate for prostate cancer of 99% in the U.S.
and 74% in Britain (Long Island
Newsday,
11/4).
Editorials
Hartford Courant: Giuliani
"tripped" when he "attacked his Democratic
rivals for advocating European-style
'socialist' health plans" and when he said
the five-year survival rate for prostate
cancer in Britain is 44% in the ad,
according to a
Courant
editorial. No Democratic presidential
candidate "advocates a European-style or a
Canadian health care system," and most
propose "maintaining a central role for the
private sector -- within the framework of
making health care more accessible," the
editorial states. In addition, in the ad,
"the numbers used by the candidate are
'crude' and seven years old," the editorial
states, adding, "Besides, is it really fair
to compare such statistics when
circumstances beyond insurance coverage play
a hand?" (Hartford
Courant,
11/5).
St. Petersburg Times: The
Giuliani "commercial rant about the
comparative cancer survival rates with
European 'socialized medicine' would be
tacky even if his facts were right," a
Times
editorial states. Such "distortions about
European medicine may make for interesting
campaign rhetoric, but they offer nothing to
the 47 million Americans who have no
insurance," the editorial states (St.
Petersburg Times,
11/3).
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