Hopes for Healthcare Reform Highest Among Uninsured

According to new research from WG Consulting, about 75 percent of Americans expect healthcare costs to rise while quality of care declines. These Americans also feel that access to medications and doctors, treatment availability, treatment innovations, and insurance costs and coverage will remain the same or get worse. Unsurprisingly, voters who voted for Romney in the 2012 presidential election are more pessimistic about the quality of future health care when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is fully implemented in 2014.

However, the uninsured were found to be the most optimistic population about the PPACA with 33 percent expecting an improvement of care compared to 20 percent of insured voters. The uninsured also believe the insurance coverage and costs will improve as a result of the PPACA. Two-times as many African Americans and Hispanics think the country will benefit from the PPACA compared to Caucasians.

Broken down by age, 39 percent of voters under 35 foresee cost of care improvements compared to 19 percent of voters over 50. Voters also reported wanting pharmaceutical companies to be active in reforming health care. Nearly two-thirds of voters feel that it is most important for pharmaceutical manufacturers to work closely with doctors to improve health outcomes.

Over half of voters think that the pharmaceutical industry should do more to create and support patient assistance programs and advocate for expanded drug access for needy patients. About 80 percent of voters think it is important for pharmaceutical companies to produce education materials on consumer health care reform and maintain websites and patient literature on medical conditions and treatment options.