Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994 TAG: 9403270062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Increasingly, insured people are expressing fears that if the estimated 38.9 million uninsured Americans get health-care coverage largely through federal subsidy, the insured's benefits will decrease and their costs will increase.
Surveys reflect these fears; radio and television talk shows give voice to them. And when members of Congress say the standard benefits package proposed by President Clinton likely will have to be scaled back because it is too costly, it adds to the apprehension that existing coverage also will be reduced.
This attitude among many insured people is a huge potential drawback for the White House and members of Congress who now see health-care legislation as a political plus that can only make them more popular. It is evidence that revamping the health-care system so everyone is covered is a double-edged sword.
Linda Bergthold, a health-care expert for William M. Mercer Inc., a consulting firm, said she frequently hears insured Americans express these fears in her travels around the country. She regards them as the greatest threat to changing the system.
Bergthold, who was a member of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health-care task force, said the attitude that "I've got mine, and you can't have yours" is deeply felt - and selfish. "It surprises me," she said.
But it is real. Several national polls show waning support for the Clinton plan. A Washington Post-ABC News survey March 3 showed 80 percent of those questioned feared the quality of their medical care would worsen under the Clinton plan, up from 64 percent in October. A New York Times poll released March 15 showed that 57 percent believed the Clinton plan would raise their health-care costs.
In a nationwide survey of 1,000 employees of mid-size and large companies conducted by Towers Perrin, a management consulting firm, 60 percent said they fear they would have to pay more for the same level of coverage they now have. And 40 percent said this higher cost would be unacceptable.
Only 11 percent said the quality of their health care would be better under Clinton's plan - and a third said it would be worse. Half the people surveyed said they believed the proposed health-care overhaul would not improve quality of care.
In contrast to the goals of Clinton's plan to expand the use of health-maintenance organizations and similar health plans that limit a patient's choice of physician to cut costs, 63 percent said choice of providers is more important than reducing costs.
These sobering findings reveal a deep skepticism over whether the president and political leaders are telling the truth about how beneficial a new system would be for them. Clinton and his wife, who support universal coverage, have tried, with little apparent success, to reassure Americans that their health-care costs will not rise and that coverage will improve.
According to the Employee Benefits Research Institute, 177.5 million Americans had private health insurance in 1992. Of these, 148 million were covered under employer plans. Another 38.9 million had no health insurance.
Those with private health insurance tend to belong to the middle class, which plays a decisive role in U.S. politics. Although many middle-class people share Clinton's conviction that health care should not be taken away if they lose their jobs, the survey indicates that a sizable segment of the middle class resents paying higher taxes to subsidize those without health care.
For example, in a call to C-SPAN, the public affairs television network, a woman with health insurance complained that her taxes would go up with universal coverage. She said she could not support paying for the health care of "promiscuous" AIDS patients, alcoholics who later require liver transplants or smokers who develop lung cancer.
Such sentiments are common, reported a government official who frequently makes speeches to health-care groups around the country. This official said the fears are more deeply felt and common than politicians in Washington care to believe.
"You hear it from the nicest people," said the official, who requested anonymity. "They say, `Why should I have to pay more for people who aren't careful about their health care?' It is an underlying issue. Unfortunately, many people in Washington are out of touch with their feelings."
by CNB