Health Poll Shows Service Satisfaction, Future Concerns

September 26, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new poll shows that many Americans are still confident about, and satisfied with, their health care services despite raging price hikes, but that doesn't mean they don't see storm clouds in the future.

The 2002 Health Confidence Survey reflects respondents’ worries about whether they will be able to get needed health treatment and prescription drugs in years to come as well as their unhappiness with insurance costs.

Survey findings include:

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  • Half of those receiving work-related coverage report being extremely or very satisfied with their health plan.
  • 60% of workers who anticipate both retiree health benefits and pre-65 retirement would not retire before becoming eligible for Medicare if the promised benefits were revoked
  • 44% of those receiving health care in the past two years are extremely or very satisfied with it.
  • More than half continue to be extremely or very satisfied with their ability to choose their doctor.
  • One-third of respondents are extremely or very confident that they’ll get needed treatments during the next decade. Fewer are confident they will be able to get such care once they are eligible for Medicare.
  • 38% of those who received care in the past two years say they are dissatisfied with the cost of insurance.
  • 44% are dissatisfied with the costs of care not covered by their insurance.
  • 39% of Americans are extremely or very confident that they can afford prescription drugs without financial hardship today; 24% are confident that they will be able to afford prescription drugs in the next decade; and only 17% of those not yet on Medicare are extremely or very confident that they will be able to afford prescription drugs once they become eligible for Medicare.

The survey is sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Consumer Health Education Council, and Mathew Greenwald & Associates.

The survey was conducted within the United States between April 18 and May 19, 2002, through

20-minute telephone interviews with 1,000 individuals ages 21 and older.

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