Benefits January 21, 2003

Survey: Support High for Health Insurance Coverage

January 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Most people are happy with their health insurance whether their employer provides it, they buy it, or Medicare or Medicaid provides it.
Reported by

In fact, a Harris survey found that those with Medicare coverage tend to be happier and be less willing to moan about the coverage than those with other coverage types.

While levels of patient satisfaction with health care coverage have generally not changed much between December 2001 and December 2002, according to Harris, public opinion has continued to polarize somewhat between coverage supporters and detractors.

Specifically:

  • Those with employer-provided insurance who give their plans very poor grades (D or F) have increased from 8% to 13%, the highest number recorded over the four years pollsters asked this question. However, marginally, more people with employer-provided insurance give their plans an A (up from 26% to 29%) and they are also more likely to “definitely recommend” their plans to both healthy (up from 33% to 40%) and sick (up from 32% to 38%) friends.
  • According to the Harris survey, Medicare beneficiaries show the lowest levels of dissatisfaction and the highest levels of satisfaction. Only 26% give their insurance a C, D or F, compared to 31%, 36% and 31% for those with the three other types of insurance. Some 39% give their insurance an A compared to 29%, 28% and 30% for the other types of insurance.
  • Only 20% of Medicare recipients would not recommend their health insurance to a sick friend, compared to 26%, 23% and 25% for the other types of insurance.

This Harris Interactive survey was conducted by telephone between December 12 and 16, 2002 among a sample of 949 insured adults (18+).

«