Public Opinion
The following publications are a combination of relevant documents from the Center for Children and Families (CCF) and other organizations. Go to the Publications section for a list of all CCF documents. For research related to specific policy issues, including SCHIP reauthorization, see the Federal Policy section.
- Poll: Affordability and Health Care Coverage
Center for Children and Families and Lake Research Partners
November 2009This survey shows that families are still reeling from the recession, feeling pessimistic about the future, and struggling to afford health care. Health care costs are squeezing families financially, forcing them to make hard choices. For this reason, their goal for health care reform is overwhelmingly to make health care more affordable and to lower premiums and copayments that people must pay for their insurance coverage.
- Children of the Recession
CBS News Poll
May 2009Nearly four in ten parents report a decrease in their family’s income in the last six months; a similar percentage says the recession is affecting the lives of their children. 37% say their household income has declined, and that has left many parents having a harder time paying for food, utilities, even their child’s medical bills. Lower-income families report being especially hard-hit. The poll also asks about support for public programs for children.
- The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress
Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health
January 2009The public ranks action on health care highly as part of efforts to address the current economic recession and also views overhauling health care as one of the top priorities for President Obama and the new Congress. 33% who say helping the newly unemployed afford health insurance coverage is their top priority; and 31% of adults rank providing states with more federal help for lower-income residents' health care as the top priority. 51% of adults favor increasing spending on SCHIP, while 39% favor maintaining current program funding levels.
- Voter Support for a Public Health Insurance Plan
Lake Research Partners, Health Care for America Now
January 2009While recent polling has shown consistent broad support for comprehensive health care reform, this poll specifically addressed whether people want a choice of a public health insurance plan. The answer is an overwhelming yes: 73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%), and Republicans (63%).
- Healthcare Access, Cost Are Top Health Concerns
Jeffrey Jones, Gallop
December 2008Americans' perceptions of the most urgent health problem facing the United States focus on systemic factors such as access to healthcare and the cost of it rather than specific medical conditions. For the last seven years -- and eight of the last nine -- either healthcare cost or access has topped the list, and these two issues have been first or second on the list for the last six years.
- New Poll Shows Widespread Support for Healthcare for Every Child
First Focus
November 2008New polling data has revealed that a majority of Americans support expanding SCHIP to cover legal immigrant children by a margin of 79-15 percent. Currently, legal immigrant children and pregnant women face a five year waiting period before they are eligible for SCHIP coverage. In addition, the survey finds that a majority of Americans favor renewing SCHIP by a margin of 82-10 percent.
- Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008
Kaiser Family Foundation
August 2008A July/August poll finds that one in four Americans continues to struggle with paying for health care. Health care ranks as a "serious problem" above paying for food, problems with debt, and paying the rent or mortgage; it ranks below paying for gas or getting a good paying job or raise in pay. Among the 24 percent that find paying for health care or health insurance a serious problem, those in the poorest health and those with the most need disproportionately report difficulties.
- Worry and Neglect: Californians Respond to the Rising Cost of Care
California HealthCare Foundation
July 2008The California HealthCare Foundation commissioned Harris Interactive to survey a representative sample of the state's population to seek out attitudes about health costs. The findings reveal that Californians have significant concerns about being able to afford health care services when they need them. Almost half say they worry a great deal or quite a lot about being unable to get care due to excessive cost. Just over half are worried about having enough coverage after retirement. Hispanics are significantly more worried about cost than Non-Hispanics. Further, Californians are stepping up efforts to control their costs by increasingly neglecting needed care and seeking less expensive prescription drugs.
- Survey Brief: Economic Problems Facing Families
Kaiser Family Foundation
April 2008In this Survey Brief, the Kaiser Family Foundation takes a closer look at the public’s reports of how changes in the economy are affecting them and their families personally, with an in-depth look at reported problems accessing and paying for health care in particular. It finds that health care costs rank among Americans’ top personal economic problems, and their struggles to deal with those costs have affected both their financial well-being and their family’s health care.
- Health Care and Elections
Kaiser Family Foundation
April 2008In light of the upcoming presidential election, this Public Opinion Spotlight provides an examination of recent public opinion data and historical trends in order to give some insight into the role health care might play as an election issue. It analyzes the priority the public puts on health care issues as well as differences in views by party identification and age. In addition, it highlights several groups to watch in the 2008 presidential election, such as political independents, health-focused voters, and the uninsured.
- Public Views on SCHIP Reauthorization
National Public Radio, Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health
October 2007The survey, conducted in October 2007, assessed the public’s familiarity with the SCHIP debate, whether or not they support renewal and expansion of the program, and whom they believe should be eligible for health coverage through SCHIP. Given the basic parameters of the expansion—its cost, the number of new children who would be covered, and how it would be paid for—seven in 10 Americans said they backed the plan. Even when presented with the pros and cons, support stayed at 65%.
- Public Perceptions of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
Public Opinion Strategies and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
August 2007An August 2007, national survey of 900 registered likely voters found an overwhelming level of support (86%) for SCHIP reauthorization, even when respondents were told the costs (77% still favored reauthorization). There was also significant public support for expanding SCHIP to cover an additional four million uninsured children.
- New Bipartisan Survey Finds Americans Strongly Support Expanding SCHIP and Extending Health Coverage to More Uninsured Children
Center for Children and Families
July 2007A national survey conducted in June-July 2007 examines public opinion about SCHIP and proposed changes raised during its 2007 reauthorization. This issue brief details the survey findings, showing a strikingly high level of public and bipartisan support for covering children.
- Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Priorities for SCHIP Reauthorization
Katherine Shea, Karen Davis, Anne Gauthier, Rachel Nuzum, and Barry Scho, Commonwealth Fund
April 2007This survey highlights the perspectives of a diverse group of experts on issues related to the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 2007, showing widespread support for the program and its expansion to cover more low-income children. Most survey respondents, 91%, were in favor of allowing legal immigrant children who would be eligible based on income to participate in SCHIP. Other favored eligibility expansions include covering children in families with income up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (88% of respondents) and permitting families above the eligibility level to “buy into" SCHIP coverage by paying a premium to cover the cost of benefits (82%).
- Election Survey Finds Broad Support for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
Center for Children and Families
December 2006This issue brief reviews the results of a survey of 1,000 voters during the 2006-midterm elections (November 6-7, 2006) on their opinions about future funding for SCHIP. The results show that more than 8 in 10 voters want to increase spending and expand the number of children covered; while only a small percentage (14 percent) of those queried believe that the incoming Congress should maintain the current funding level.