A new Commonweath Fund survey released Tuesday at the Harvard Forum on Health Care Access and the Uninsured, in Chicago, shows that rising health care costs and growing instability in insurance coverage are making health reform a potentially key issue in this presidential election year.

The findings of the Fund's Biennial Health Insurance Survey state that nearly six in 10 Americans (57%) say presidential and congressional candidates' views on health reform will be a "very important" factor in their vote this November.  Furthermore, the majority of Americans across the political spectrum support a variety of policies that would provide coverage to uninsured adults, and believe that financing care should remain a shared responsibility between individuals, employers, and government.

Statistics presented by nationally known pollster Robert J. Blendon confirmed that Americans are concerned - and even dissatisfied - with health care in the U.S. and strongly support reform.  In his presentation, Blendon stated more than half of Americans (58%) rated the health care in this country as fair or poor in 2003, up from 49% who reported the same in 1998.  Furthermore, 56% of Americans believe the uninsured problem has gotten worse in the last two years and 54% claim to be dissatisfied with the quality of care (up from 44% in 2000.)  Blendon stated that although there exists support for a wide variety of proposals on how to reform the health care system and deal with uninsured problem, the public generally lacks knowledge on the issues and is divided over tax implications.  Public support for any particular solution tends to be thin.  Still, Blendon claims many Americans (47%) support raising taxes in order to make a major effort towards covering more of the uninsured, and several others (37%) would support more government spending in order to make a limited effort towards covering more of the nation's uninsured.

In addition to Blendon's presentation and the Commonwealth Fund's findings presented by lead survey author Sara Collins, Ph.D. (Senior Program Officer at the Fund), the event - moderated by journalist and Harvard University professor David Gergen and attended by more than 350 people - highlighted specific challenges facing Illinois and the Midwest.  Local, state, and national health care leaders shared their perspectives on a range of issues related to expanded coverage.  Health care leaders from California, Illinois, and Maine also discussed state approaches for covering more uninsured.  To view video coverage of the event, obtain speaker presentations and learn how to obtain a copy of the full survey reprt, visit the PHSI web site.

The Harvard Forums on Health, a project of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement and the Harvard School of Public Health, was co-sponsored locally in Illinois by the Health Research and Educational Trust, Michael Reese Health Trust, Northwestern University Medical School, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago.  national co-sponsors for this event were The Commonwealth Fund, the policy journal Health Affairs, and the New America Foundation.  Support for the forum was provided by an education grant from Eli Lilly & Company and by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund.