Vested Interest - Trends - February 2000 Issue

Patients Want HMO Accountability

A survey of 1,257 voters nationwide sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found overwhelming support for holding managed care companies legally responsible for their decisions. More than seven in ten voters (72%) say they favor patients’ bill of rights laws, while just 17% oppose them. While many (65%) expect that such laws would raise premiums, a majority (52%) continue to support such laws even if premiums rise by as much as $200 per year. “Support does drop if they think there will be a really big cost increase, but support really outpaces opposition,” noted Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman. Four in ten voters (39%) support a major effort to provide coverage for the uninsured, while another 43% favor limited efforts. Nearly three out of four voters (74%) said they would pay higher premiums to provide coverage for the uninsured. (AP, January 19, 2000)

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, for the Twentieth Century

A Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll of 511 adults nationwide asked respondents to note who they most admired of the twentieth century’s popular figures. Ranked first on the list was Mother Theresa (49% admire most, 81% total admiration), followed by Albert Einstein (31% most, 70% total); Martin Luther King, Jr. (34% most, 67% total); John F. Kennedy (32% most, 66% total); and Helen Keller (30% most, 63% total). The least admired include Bill Clinton (46% do not admire) Billy Graham (25% do not admire), Nelson Mandela (18% do not admire), and Ronald Reagan (17% do not admire ). (The Polling Report)

I Wonder What the Future Holds...

CBS News polled 1,026 adults nationwide to project what the next century will bring to America. A plurality (44%) believe life for Americans will get better, while 29% say it will get worse, and 23% say it will stay the same. A near-majority (49%) expect that the prospect for war will remain “about the same”, while 36% expect more war, and 12% expect more peace. A majority (54%) expect that the environment will get worse, while 23% think it will stay the same and 21% expect it to get better. Just 9% think poverty will be eradicated; 89% think it will not, and 2% don’t know. Asked if we will have contact with “intelligent beings from other planets”, 29% said yes, 58% said no, 12% didn’t know, and 1% said we’d already had contact with beings from other planets. (The Polling Report)

Taxing the Web

ABC News polled 1,025 adults nationwide and found that the vast majority (87%) did not shop on-line last year; the other 13% did. Still, 44% think they will this year, while 50% think they will not. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of 1,000 adults nationwide asked if purchases over the Internet should be taxed. A majority (52%) thought the web should be taxed, while 41% thought not. Of the remainder, 2% thought some should be taxed, and some not, and 5% were not sure. (The Polling Report)