Reducing Uninsured a Top Priority for California Residents

Seventy-eight percent of California voters believe businesses with more than 20 employees should be required to provide health insurance or pay into a state-administered fund, according to the second half of a Field Poll released Wednesday, MediaNews/San Jose Mercury News reports (Zapler, San Jose Mercury News, 1/4).

The Field Poll surveyed 1,200 randomly selected voters from Nov. 17, 2006, through Dec. 12, 2006. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points (Miller/Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/3).

The poll also found that:

76% of respondents favor expanding government programs to cover more uninsured;
75% of respondents support coverage for part-time workers through a shared-cost program;
47% of respondents believe in replacing the current health care system with a state-run, single-payer system;
68% of respondents support health insurance for all residents (Gledhill, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/4);
Respondents said reducing the number of uninsured should be California officials' main priority, ahead of making health plans available regardless of pre-existing medical conditions and increasing funding for hospital emergency departments;
61% of respondents believe the state should promote health savings accounts; and
Nearly two-thirds of respondents believe EDs are overcrowded and underfunded.

Respondents who identified their party affiliation as Democrat supported employer mandates by large margins, and 68% of Republicans, including 61% who identified themselves as "strongly conservative," supported the mandates (Shaw, Stockton Record, 1/4).

The Field Poll was funded by the California Wellness Foundation. The first half of the poll was released on Tuesday (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/3). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.