03/02/10 – New Poll Shows Coloradans Agree on Need to Improve Our Health Care System
by Irene M. IbarraPresident & CEO, The Colorado Trust
Welcome to CommunityConnections, The Colorado Trust's new blog! Through this forum, we will feature news, ideas and perspectives from The Colorado Trust, our grantees and others across the state on all things related to achieving access to health for all Coloradans. We warmly welcome and encourage your participation.
From the first announcement of The Trust's 10 year commitment, we have underscored the necessity of many people working together in order to realize accessible, affordable, quality health coverage and care for the people of our state. In turn, this requires us to find common ground.
Regardless of where people stand on the political spectrum or how they feel about the current federal health care reform efforts, few dispute the need to improve our health care system. Just one serious illness or injury can wipe out a family's future – nearly half of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are caused by or related to a traumatic health care event. A recent economic case study supported by The Colorado Trust, The Future of Colorado Health Care, points to evidence showing that without reform, the number of uninsured Coloradans will increase, while businesses, schools, individuals and governments will face increasingly higher health care costs.
The burden of letting health care costs go unchecked is already taking its toll on families, workers and children. Health insurance premiums have grown twice as fast as the average Coloradan's wages. This means that Coloradans have less and less money to save for a house, education for their children or retirement. These increased costs impact the long-term financial stability of many families and ultimately can create a cycle of poverty.
While there are obvious partisan divisions, recent polling* conducted by The Trust demonstrates that Coloradans share many of the same values when it comes to how they think health care should be improved. Even those individuals polled that opposed elements of the federal health care reform proposals still see room for improvement in the health care system. And when asked what elements of health care are most important to uphold, the vast majority of participants agreed that quality, affordability and accessibility were the most vital factors of an effective statewide health care system.
Seventy-one percent of those polled say the health care system is meeting their own needs, but only 42 percent say the system is meeting the needs of most Coloradans – signaling broad recognition that health care as a whole is not working as well as it should. Additionally, 58 percent of those with insurance say they are concerned about losing it, and 61 percent of those polled agree that government should ensure that everybody has basic health insurance.
When it comes to health care, regardless of background or personal views, there's one thing nearly all Coloradans polled agree on: we can do better. According to our statewide poll, the people of Colorado place the highest priority on making sure that an improved health care system is one that provides high quality medical care, takes care of them when they need it and does so affordably.
We are committed to working with Coloradans from all points of view to make our health care system better and to achieve a healthier Colorado.
*The statewide opinion survey was sponsored by The Colorado Trust and conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates on January 18-24, 2010. The sample was comprised of 550 adults throughout the state, including 100 interviews among those who solely or primarily use cell phones for communication. Interviews were distributed proportionally by county and the sample is representative of the population demographically.
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