More than half of Americans (51%) believe there are good things about the current health care system, but major changes are needed, according to the 2008 EBRI Health Confidence Survey. The survey was released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald and Associates Inc., and was underwritten by the Principal Financial Group.

“The economic crisis is serving as ‘the tipping point’ in terms of how Americans are changing behavior concerning their health care,” said Jerry Ripperger, national practice leader of consumer health at the Principal Financial Group. “We’ve finally reached a place where more Americans are focusing on making smarter health care decisions, and taking more personal responsibility that will improve their health and ease the strain on their wallets.”

The survey indicates that Americans are showing some level of personal responsibility through heightened awareness and action. Two out of five Americans (39 percent) report they are often or always aware of the cost of their doctor’s visit. For example, those Americans who have experienced higher health care costs over the last year:

• Tried to take better care of themselves (76 percent)
• Chose generic drugs more often (74 percent)
• Talked to the doctor more carefully about treatment options and costs (63 percent)

Goals for reform: quality, affordable and accessible

The survey indicates that when it comes to reforming the nation’s health care system, Americans said it is “extremely” important to make health care coverage affordable (63 percent), provide quality health care (63 percent), and provide health insurance coverage to all Americans (55 percent).

In order to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance, those surveyed “strongly supported”:

• Expanding government programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid (43 percent)
• Requiring all employers to pay toward subsidized health insurance for employees (41 percent)
• Requiring everyone to participate in some kind of health insurance plan (37 percent)
• Providing tax breaks to help people pay for coverage they purchase on their own (54 percent) and to help people pay for employer coverage (48 percent)
• Allowing those who are uninsured to buy into government programs, like Medicare and Medicaid (48 percent)
• Allowing those who are uninsured to buy the health insurance coverage offered to government employees (37 percent)

Migrating to new infrastructure

The survey also indicated that Americans are beginning to show support for health care infrastructure that provides more transparency:

• More than half of Americans (55 percent) say it’s important for providers to use electronic medical records, and four out of five say these records should be stored in a central location so that their health information could be shared by all health care providers they authorize to use it.
• More than half (56 percent) of Americans say the total cost of the doctor or hospital would be “extremely” or “very” important when choosing a provider through an objective rating system (if the quality ratings were about equal).