Local Public Opinion

What do Cincinnatians Think

Local Public Opinion

What do people in Greater Cincinnati think about health care reform? What issues are on their minds? What would they like to see happen?

Through our local public opinion polling, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati can help answer those questions, and more. See the questions below for the local public opinion data we currently have. If you have a question you want to know the answer to click here to ask us.

For a summary of local and national conversations on healthcare costs, please click here.

What do people in our region think about…

• Kentuckians' Experiences with Not Having Health Insurance Coverage
  

  The number of Kentucky adults ages 18–64 who currently lacked health insurance increased 43% since early 2008, going from 23% in 2008 to 33% in 2009. In general, as age, education level, and income increased, the percentage of Kentuckians who were uninsured decreased. For more information, click here.

• Kentuckians’ Experiences with Going into Debt to Pay for Healthcare
  

  Half of Kentuckians (50%) do not have any unpaid medical debt, and 29% owe less than $2,000. This means that about 1 in 5 Kentuckians owes over $2,000 in unpaid medical debt. While the total amount of medical debt varies among groups, in general as age, education, or income increases, the percentage of people who have medical debt decreases. For more information, click here.

• Kentuckians’ Experiences with Reductions in Salaries and Benefits
  

  Half of Kentucky’s adults (51%) reported that they had at least one of these problems, and 1 in 4 (25%) said they had two or more of these problems. 1 in 3 (34%) reported they or a family member experienced a cut in pay, 1 in 4 (26%) reported they or a family member experienced a reduction or elimination of healthcare benefits, and 1 in 5 (21%) reported that they or a family member experienced a reduction or elimination of retirement contributions. For more information, click here.

• What Kentuckians Think about How Satisfied They Are with Their Health Insurance
  

  More than 8 in 10 insured Kentuckians (86%) reported that they were satisfied with their current health insurance. 1 in 4 (26%) who said they were completely satisfied, 3 in 10 (31%) who were very satisfied, and 3 in 10 (29%) who were somewhat satisfied. For more information, click here.

• Kentuckians’ Experiences with Delaying or Going without Care Due to Cost
  

  One-third of Kentucky’s adults (32%) reported that they or a member of their household delayed or went without needed medical care; four in ten (43%) delayed or went without needed dental care; and one-third (34%) delayed filling or did not fill a needed prescription in the last year. These were about the same as or higher than rates for adults across the nation. For more information, click here.

• What Kentuckians Think about Integrating Mental and Physical Health Care
  

  The current U.S. healthcare system separates treatment for physical and mental illnesses. Physical and mental health care are offered in different locations and by different healthcare providers. There are also different levels of insurance benefits for physical and mental health care. This can mean that people delay getting or don’t get needed services because it is too difficult to go to more than one place or because of cost. For more information, click here.

• What Kentuckians Think about Providing Access to Healthcare for All Americans
  

  STRONGLY SUPPORT–(81%) of Kentuckians continued to favor providing access for all, despite the drop in support over the last year and a half. The decline in support was most dramatic among those who currently have the strongest health insurance safety net: Kentuckians over age 65 and those who currently have health insurance. For more information, click here.

• What Kentuckians Think about Ways to Increase the Number of Insured Americans
  

  STRONGLY SUPPORT–(70%) of Kentuckians favored requiring that all Americans have health insurance. This was slightly higher than the percentage of respondents nationally (66%) who favored the individual mandate. For more information, click here.

• What Ages 65 and over Think about Healthcare Reform?
  

  Americans over the age of 65 are an important demographic group to understand when thinking about healthcare reform. They have possibly the most to lose with healthcare reform: their access to Medicare, an affordable, government-run, essentially universal health insurance system that covers the vast majority of Ohioans and Americans ages 65 and older. Fo more information, click here.

• The Medical Malpractice System
  

  Healthcare reform continues to make national news. However, the real opinions of the public are not always heard among the noise. To find out what Ohioans think, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati conducted a Fall 2009 Ohio Health Issues Poll focused entirely on healthcare reform. For more information, click here.

• Is Healthcare Reform Going too Far or Not Far Enough?
  

  Just under half of Ohio adults (48%) said that proposed changes to the healthcare system don’t go far enough, but just over one-third (36%) said they go too far. For more information, click here.

• Requiring all Americans to have health insurance?
  

  SUPPORT – 62% of Ohioans (September 2009) favor requiring all Americans to have health insurance, either from their employer or from another source, with financial help for those who can’t afford it. For more information, click here.
  

• Requiring employers to offer health insurance?
  

  SUPPORT – 64% of Ohioans (September 2009) favor requiring employers to offer health insurance to their workers or pay money into a government fund that will pay to cover those without insurance. For more information click here.

• The effect on the healthcare system of a public health plan that any American can opt into?
  

  STRONGLY SUPPORT– 69% of Ohioans (September 2009) and 73% of Ohioans (June 2009) state that the option of an affordable public health plan that any American can opt-into would improve the current healthcare system. For more information, click here.
  

• About how healthcare reform will affect them?
  

  The majority of adults in Ohio and across the nation said that healthcare reform will make the quality and cost of their healthcare better or keep it about the same. For more information, click here.
  

• What is important to them about Healthcare?
  

  The majority of adults in Ohio (September 2009) identified issues of choice, affordability, and portability as extremely important changes to the healthcare system, while limits on medical malpractice lawsuits was at the bottom of the priority list. For more information, click here.

• Making healthcare reform a top priority?
  

  SUPPORT- 69% of Ohioans (June 2009) identified healthcare reform as a top priority for the President and Congress to deal with in the next 12 months and 59% of Ohioans are optimistic that meaningful healthcare reform will be passed by Congress and approved by the President. For more information, click here.

• Changing the healthcare system’s fee structure to pay more to prevent and manage chronic illnesses rather than for every test and procedure?
  

  SUPPORT- 66% of Ohioans (September 2009) and 66% of Ohioans (June 2009) stated that changes in payment structures so that your main doctor is paid more to prevent and manage chronic illness rather than paid for every test or procedure would improve the healthcare system. For more information, click here.

• Paying higher taxes so that everyone can have health insurance?
  

  SLIGHTLY OPPOSE- 56% of Ohioans (June 2009) are not willing to pay more taxes so that everyone can have health insurance; 43% are willing to pay higher taxes. For more information, please see the data set on OASIS, available here.

1. Allowing the unemployed to be eligible for a public health plan (like Medicaid or Medicare)?
   

   SUPPORT- 63% of Ohioans (June 2009) say that allowing people who are unemployed and cannot afford health insurance to be eligible for a public health plan (like Medicaid or Medicare) would improve our current healthcare system. For more information, click here.

2. Offering tax breaks to help people buy private insurance?
   

   STRONG SUPPORT- 74% of Ohioans (September 2009) favor offering tax breaks to help people buy private insurance. For more information click here.

3. A national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan?
   

   SPLIT- 49% of Ohioans (June 2009) say that having a national plan in which all Americans get their insurance from a single government plan would improve our current healthcare system while 47% say it will make our current system worse. For more information, click here.
   

4. The value of the healthcare they receive?
   

   SUPPORT- 61% of Ohioans (June 2009) say that they get their money’s worth from what they and their employer pay for healthcare. For more information, please see the data set on OASIS, available here.

1. Spending more on healthcare

   Ohio: When asked what the state of Ohio should spend more money on, 32% of Ohioans (April 2008) said they would like the state government to spend more money on healthcare. This was the most popular choice followed by primary and secondary education (26%) and economic development (19%). For more information, click here.

   Kentucky: When asked how important it was for the Governor and Legislature to work on a number of issues three of the top five choices had to do with healthcare, and were identified as extremely or very important by over 85% of Kentuckians (January-February 2008). These top healthcare priorities included: reducing the number of children without health insurance, reducing the cost of healthcare, and reducing the number of adults without health insurance. For more information, click here.

2. Giving all Americans access to affordable, quality healthcare?
   

   STRONGLY SUPPORT- Nearly 90% of Ohioans (April 2007) and 91% of Kentuckians (January-February 2008) favor providing access to affordable, quality healthcare for all Americans. And 65% of Ohioans and 64% of Kentuckians still favored providing access to affordable, quality healthcare for all Americans even if it means raising taxes or a major role for the federal government. For more information on Ohio, click here. For more information on Kentucky, click here.

1. Why healthcare costs are out of control?
   

   85% of Kentuckians (January-February 2008) think that healthcare costs are out of control because some consumers are abusing the system, while 79% think insurance companies are ripping off consumers, and 77% think drug companies are ripping off consumers. For more information, click here.

1. The importance of Medicaid?
   

   STRONGLY SUPPORT- Over 90% of Kentuckians (January-February 2008) think that Medicaid is important for eligible Kentuckians who otherwise wouldn’t have health insurance including, elderly people who cannot afford nursing homes, children in low-income families, disabled adults, low-income working parents, and low-income pregnant women. For more information, click here.

   STRONGLY SUPPORT- Over 85% of Ohioans (April – May 2007) think that Medicaid is important for eligible Ohioans who otherwise wouldn’t have health insurance including, elderly people who cannot afford nursing homes, children in low-income families, disabled adults, low-income working parents, and low-income pregnant women. For more information, please see the data set on OASIS, available here.

2. Increasing the use of electronic medical records?
   

   STRONGLY SUPPORT- 77% of Ohioans (June 2009) stated that increasing the use of electronic medical records in patient care would improve the current healthcare system. For more information, click here.

Have a question you want to ask?

If you have any questions, please click here to ask us. We will do our best to answer your questions.

Want to use the original data?

The Kentucky and Ohio data cited here are free and available to the public through the Online Analysis and Statistical Information System (OASIS) http://www.oasisdataarchive.org/. To view these data once you have registered, select "The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati" in the "Collection of Studies" category. Then choose either "Kentucky Health Issues Poll" or “Ohio Health Issues Poll.”

More data coming soon!

We will be asking more questions of Kentuckians and Ohioans later this fall. Please check back here in early October for more Ohio data and in late 2009/ early 2010 for Kentucky data.

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