April 8, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Francis De Luca, 919-834-2099 Francis.deluca@nccivitas.org
RALEIGH – The latest Civitas Poll shows that voters remain very concerned over the cost of health care, and many are supportive of plans to open more same-day surgery centers.
“This poll shows voters are very sensitive to the costs of health care and health procedures,” said Civitas Institute President Francis X. De Luca. “Also, voters have more trust in their doctors than in hospitals. That feeling may play a crucial role in the upcoming legislative debate over same-day surgery centers. Voters may tend to back the doctors seeking to open the centers, rather than the hospitals that oppose them.”
As for the Affordable Care Act, he said, “So far it continues to lose voter support.”
The poll of 600 registered North Carolina voters was conducted March 18-20, and has an error margin of plus/minus 4 percent.
Text of questions*:
“On average, North Carolina citizens currently pay more for same day (sometimes referred to as outpatient) surgeries than citizens of neighboring states. Some say this is due to the lack of same-day surgery centers that are not affiliated with a hospital. The North Carolina Legislature is considering a bill that would allow more of these independent non-hospital same-day surgery centers to be built. Would you support or oppose these centers to be built in the state?”
65% Total Support
19% Total Oppose
35% Strongly Support
30% Somewhat Support
7% Somewhat Oppose
11% Strongly Oppose
16% Don’t Know/ No Opinion
“Please tell me which of the following opinions comes closer to your own when it comes to building more same day independent surgery centers in North Carolina:”
26% (Some/other) people say that North Carolina should not build more same day independent surgery centers. They say that North Carolina hospitals have been hit hard by state and federal cutbacks and that these surgery centers could cost them as much as $400 million dollars a year. They say that there will be billions of dollars in cuts to the state’s Medicare program over the next 10 years due to the Affordable Care Act and hospitals will be forced to shut down if they are dealt another blow like this one.
50% (Other/some) people say that independent same-day surgery centers should be constructed because procedures at such facilities are a third less expensive than the same procedures performed at hospitals. They say hospital surgery costs are increasing at 4 times the rate of inflation every year and these centers will keep costs down. They also say that these centers will be responsible for providing Charity Care to 7% of their business each year, which would benefit hospitals.
23% Don’t Know
2% Refused
“Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for a legislator who voted for a bill that could help reduce the cost of some common outpatient surgeries by up to 60%, reduce the cost for services such as MRIs and CAT scans by about 40% and create more places where you can receive these services?”
73% Total More Likely
10% Total Less Likely
43% Much More Likely
30% Somewhat More Likely
5% Somewhat Less Likely
5% Much Less Likely
8% Makes No Difference
10% Don’t Know/ Refused
“Are you willing to pay higher prices for certain healthcare services at a hospital to cover services that hospitals are forced to provide, such as more complicated surgeries and caring for patients who lack insurance?”
31% Yes
59% No
9% Don’t Know
1% Refused
Between the two, who do you trust more with your own healthcare decisions …
86% Your personal physician
7% Your local hospital
6% Don’t Know
1% Refused
Do you favor or oppose the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which is also called as ObamaCare?
12/13 1/14 3/14
44% 41% 41% Total Favor
53% 52% 56% Total Oppose
31% 25% 26% Strongly Favor
13% 17% 15% Somewhat Favor
9% 6% 8% Somewhat Oppose
45% 46% 48% Strongly Oppose
3% 6% 4% Don’t Know/ No Opinion
*Due to rounding, subtotals may differ from final sums.
Click for health care crosstabs and ACA crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted March 18-20, 2014 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered general election voters in North Carolina. Twenty-five percent of the respondents were cell phone-only users. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past two general elections (2010, 2012) or be newly registered to vote since November 7, 2012.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.”
Civitas conducts the only regular live-caller polling of North Carolina voters. For more information on Civitas polling, see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
The Civitas Institute is a policy institute based in Raleigh, N.C. More information is available at www.nccivitas.org, or contact Jim Tynen at (919) 834-2099 or james.tynen@nccivitas.org.
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