SurveyUSA: Given a ‘choice,’ 77 percent of Americans like public option

A new SurveyUSA poll released on Thursday shows a solid majority of Americans back a public option as part of health care reform. Seventy-seven percent said it was extremely important or quite important that health reform efforts include a public option along with maintaining the private insurance infrastructure.

The poll asked, “How important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance?”

Seventy-two percent of Republicans, 71 percent of Independents and 86 percent of Democrats polled said they felt the choice of both was important. But, 46 percent of those polled also said they were concerned that health care reform would limit access to doctors.

When the respondents were read a description of President Obama’s health care reform plan, 51 percent said they supported it and 79 percent of those said they strongly favored it. Forty-three percent opposed Obama’s health care reform plan.

The poll also asked respondents if they had health insurance. Eighty-five percent said they currently had health insurance, with Republicans reporting the highest rates, 88 percent versus 85 percent for Democrats and Independents. Almost a third (31 percent) were already covered under “public options” such as Medicare, Medicaid or the military’s Tricare.

The SurveyUSA results are comparable to other polls asking similar questions.

A July 30 New York Times/CBS poll found that 66 percent support the public option as a choice alongside private insurance.

And a June poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal that was worded identically to the SurveyUSA poll found 76 percent supporting a choice between a public and private option.