Poll: Support for Insurance Rate Regulation Outweighs Opposition

Support has risen for a November ballot initiative related to health insurance rate regulation, according to a poll by Stanford University's Hoover Institution, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The online poll was conducted between Oct. 3 and Oct. 17.

Prop. 45 Findings

According to the survey, 41.6% of likely voters support Proposition 45 -- which would give the state insurance commissioner the authority to reject health insurance rate increases.

About 29.9% of respondents said they oppose the measure, and 28.5% were undecided.

However, the Times notes that the results of the Hoover Institution poll are "dramatically different" from the numbers presented in a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, 10/28). The PPIC poll -- conducted between Oct. 12 and Oct. 19 -- found that support for Prop. 45 had fallen nine percentage points to 39% (California Healthline, 10/23).

Prop. 46 Findings

Meanwhile, the Hoover Institution poll found that 37% of likely voters oppose Proposition 46. The ballot measure was supported by 34% of respondents, and 30% were undecided (Hoover Institution poll, October 2014).

Prop. 46 aims to improve patient safety by:

• Increasing the state's $250,000 limit on pain-and-suffering awards in malpractice lawsuits;
• Requiring doctors to undergo random drug-testing; and
• Requiring doctors to use a drug-reporting system (California Healthline, 10/2).

According to the poll, support and opposition for the measure were split along party lines (Hoover Institute poll, October 2014).