Raleigh, N.C. – Sixty-three percent of North Carolina voters support legislation to protect their right to opt out of the federal health care law, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Sixty-three percent of voters think the North Carolina Legislature should pass a law to protect patients’ rights and prohibit forcing them into participating in a health insurance plan. Twenty-five percent said such a law should not be passed, and 11 percent said they do not know.
“The legislation proposed by Republicans in the North Carolina House is very popular,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “Voters want to retain their freedom to choose when it comes to health care insurance and health care decisions.”
Looking at party registration, there is unanimous support as Republican (72 percent yes-17 percent no) and Democratic voters (58 percent yes-30 percent no) said the state Legislature should pass a law to protect patients’ rights. Unaffiliated voters also agree by a 56 percent-29 percent margin.
Fifty percent of voters said they have a generally unfavorable opinion of the new health care law given what they know about it. Forty-one percent said their opinion is favorable, and 6 percent said they have no opinion.
“Even with the passage of time voters still have an unfavorable view of the federal health care legislation passed last year,” added De Luca. “Citizens of North Carolina have consistently rejected this intrusive and overreaching piece of legislation.”
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full text of questions:
“As you may know, the new federal health care reform bill was signed into law last year. Given what you know about the new health care law, do you have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion of it?”
Total Favorable – 41%
Total Unfavorable – 50%
Very Favorable – 19%
Somewhat Favorable – 22%
Somewhat Unfavorable – 12%
Very Unfavorable – 38%
No Opinion – 6%
Do Not Know – 2%
“A number of state legislatures have passed or are considering laws to protect the rights of patients to pay directly for medical services, and prohibit forcing citizens into participating in a health insurance plan. Should the North Carolina Legislature pass such a law to protect the rights of North Carolina citizens?”
Yes – 63%
No – 25%
Do Not Know – 11%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted January 19-20 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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Click Here to View the PDF – Health Care Support January 11 PR CTs
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We don’t need Obamacare period. Please vote it out and have a health bplan that all will understand and like. Not one pushed down our throat. Thanks —- C B Lewis
I don’t think you clearly understand the link between the health of our nation and health care reform. When one of our citizens lack basic health care it effects all of us. Maybe this is not the best plan but we need something and we need it now. Or, the next time you go to an emergency room with a heart attack and you can’t be seen right away because folks are lined up waiting to be seen for minor colds in which they could have had seen by their primary care physician, but they have none, you will realize how important reform is and that health care effects everyone. Please read the plan before you make judgements on it. I am a public health nurse/registered nurse and see the impact that lack of health insurance has on our citizens everyday.
It is ironic that the people that are primarily against the plan have good insurance themselves. Don’t deny the least of our citizens what you already have.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon, RN
@Sharon: Your scenario sounds more likely after Obamacare. Basic econ: the cheaper you make something, the more people will consume. If healthcare is free, people use it (whether the emergency room or a primary care physician) more than they would otherwise. Elective surgery, unnecessary drugs, etc.
This makes it more expensive for everyone – that is, real costs to the taxpayer, since we aren’t the ones paying directly. Why have healthcare costs been rising so dramatically in the US? It’s simple: people are shielded from the real costs of their healthcare, so they consume more. The only way to keep costs down at that point is rationing, which we already see in model countries like Britain and Canada.
How about this scenario: sometime in the distant future after a long and happy youth, you’re elderly, and damage your hip so you can’t walk. You go to the hospital, which puts you on the waiting list for hip replacement surgery. You keep waiting for that call, all the while your hip gets worse. Finally, three or four years later, your turn arrives, but it’s too late; your hip is beyond repair, and you’ll never walk again. Worse service at greater cost – this is real life in countries with socialized medicine.
I absolutely agree we need health care reform. But that doesn’t mean a choice between Obamacare or nothing. Obamacare is reform in exactly the wrong direction. It won’t fix anything which is really wrong with our system, but just compounds on the pathologies we already have.
@C,
Sometimes, basic econ doesn’t apply to healthcare; even if we could go to the doctor’s office everyday, at no personal expense, we wouldn’t do it. Hospitals aren’t a whole lot of fun. What Sharon is saying makes much more sense to me. That is, someone who goes to an emergency room with a condition that a primary care physician could have prevented or could still treat drives up waiting line times and costs because emergency rooms are more expensive than visits to a doctor’s office. Plus, the PPACA doesn’t cover elective surgeries, and doctors don’t seem to prescribe unnecessary drugs very readily.
I would argue that most Americans–or at least the 1/6 that are uninsured–are not at all shielded from their healthcare costs. Cost sharing, administrative costs, and inflated drug prices are all addressed by the new law, so how could it possibly raise the cost of insurance?
As for care rationing, we already do that under the current system. We just base it on ability to pay instead of medical need. Is it not more fair to let sicker people receive care first, even if they are not the wealthiest people waiting? In any case, rationing would be much less severe here because we have more resources; we have more doctors, especially surgeons, per capita and more than twice the number of MRI and CT scanners.
And finally: cost. Saying that “socialized medicine” or a single-payer system will drive up the cost of healthcare is an outright lie. The US devoted almost 18% of its GDP to healthcare costs. Canada and the UK are both closer to 10%, and have much higher satisfaction rates. The taxes those citizens pay that go directly to healthcare are much, much less than what we pay for insurance premiums because consolidation under a single, nonprofit administrative body saves immense amounts of money for those purchasing insurance.
I agree that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not our only option. It is certainly not perfect, but there is no perfect healthcare system. It just doesn’t exist. But, while we wait for a political climate that will allow for more dramatic reform, this law is our best option.