Less than 15% of U.S. voters support, and 53% oppose, a proposal pushed by health insurers requiring every American to provide proof of private health insurance or face tax penalties or other fines, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by Consumer Watchdog, also found that by just under a two-to-one margin voters favor requiring a return on taxpayer-funded research that leads to new medical treatments or prescription drugs.

Download the poll here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/healthcarepollmemo.pdf. The poll is based on 840 interviews among registered voters in the United States conducted on December 4 thru December 7, 2008. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

President-elect Obama opposed policies requiring all Americans to buy private health insurance coverage, the so-called “individual mandate,” as a candidate. Senator Tom Daschle left open the possibility of his support for the approach in his book, “Critical,” under the pretense that he is “not willing to sacrifice worthy improvements on the altar of perfection.” Unlike plans pushed by health insurers, Daschle’s proposal importantly would give Americans access to a public insurance program “modeled after Medicare.”

Overall, 40% of voters say they are “strongly” opposed to mandating that “every American show proof that they have health insurance coverage or face tax penalties.” Less than 15% say they would support it. Another 31% are undecided. Opposition is also strongest in the West (61% oppose; 16% favor), North Central states (54% oppose; 16% favor), the South (51% oppose; 13% favor) and in the Northeast (45% oppose; 18% favor). Download a detailed breakdown of the poll returns here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/healthcarepolltabs.pdf

“With the cost of health insurance coverage for a family topping $12,500 a year its no wonder Americans overwhelmingly oppose a plan that requires them to buy coverage or face penalties. When voters are told they will have to reach into their own pocket to pay for health insurance they quickly turn against proposals requiring them to buy from insurance companies that are unrestrained in how much they can charge,” said Jerry Flanagan, Health Care Policy Director for Consumer Watchdog.

Read a recent letter Consumer Watchdog sent to President-elect Obama detailing the policy concerns with the individual mandate: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=24046

California’s debate over health care reform collapsed based on popular opposition to mandatory insurance. A January 2008 poll by Consumer Watchdog’s campaign affiliate, the Campaign for Consumer Rights, found that only 16% of California voters support such a plan. Download the January 2008 California poll here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/hcpoll.pdf. The California legislature refused to pass a measure supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders which would have required middle-class Californians to buy insurance regardless of its cost without regulating what insurers can charge for coverage, and with no guarantee that essential services would be covered. According to a recent poll by the Harvard School of Public Health, only 37% of those impacted by the individual mandate in Massachusetts — the only state with such a requirement in place — support it.

Voters Favor Providing a Return on Taxpayers’ Investment for Any New Treatments or Prescription Drugs Developed By Taxpayer-Funded Research

By just under a two-to-one margin Americans favor requiring a return on taxpayer-funded research that leads to new medical treatments or prescription drugs. The issue is particularly important as President-elect Obama is proposing doubling research funding from the National Institutes of Health. He is also expected to end the Bush Administration’s ban on federal fund of most embryonic stem cell research.

“California’s $6 billion stem cell research program which provides for a payback to taxpayers should serve as a model for federally funded research,” said John M. Simpson, Stem Cell Project Director. “When taxpayers fund research they deserve affordable access to what they’ve paid for. California’s stem cell program demonstrates this works.”

37% of voters approve of this proposal, while only 21% are opposed. In addition, those who “strongly” favor the proposal outpace “strong” opposition by 12 points (28% strong favor; 16% strong oppose). 42% remain undecided. Support passes the 40% mark among a number of critical subgroups including voters who earn over $75K a year (48%), voters ages 55 to 64 (45%), voters in the West (44%), Northeasterners (42%) and college graduates (42%).


Alan Johnson welcomes Health Regulator’s annual report

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Dec 13,2008

Improvements in access to healthcare, falling infection rates and reducing deaths from cancer & heart disease

The Healthcare Commission praised the NHS for making significant improvements in services across the board in recent years.

The Commission’s annual State of Healthcare report highlights huge strides in cutting premature death rates for the big three killers over the past decade. Early deaths from heart disease have halved, while the death rates for stroke and cancer have fallen by 44% and 18% respectively.

The report found:

  • 95% compliance with national health standards
  • Big reductions in MRSA and C. difficile infection rates
  • Dramatic drops in waiting times
  • Consistently high levels of patient satisfaction

It also highlights the scale of improvements in the NHS:

  • The number of annual consultations in the health service has risen from 219 million to 300 million since 1998
  • Attendances at A&E have risen from 14 million to 19 million since 2002/03
  • NHS Direct answered 4.9 million calls in 2007/08 and received more than 30 million visits to their website.

This is the Healthcare Commission’s fifth and final report before the Care Quality Commission – a new single regulator for health and social care – starts work in April 2009.

Welcoming the report, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said:
“I would like to thank the Healthcare Commission for working so tirelessly to drive up standards in the NHS over the past five years. Their rigorous approach to regulation has undoubtedly been a catalyst for the dramatic improvements in services across the board, alongside the hard work of NHS staff.

“Long waiting times of 18 months to two years are a thing of the past, infection rates are falling dramatically and fewer people than ever before are dying prematurely from the three big killers – heart disease, cancer and stroke.

“We know there’s more work to be done. That’s why Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS was so important. He recognised that after a decade of investment in staff and infrastructure the health service must now focus on what really matters to patients – ensuring care is safe, compassionate and personal to them. This is a big cultural shift for the NHS, but today’s report shows the service is more than up to the challenge.”

On patient safety, Health Minister Lord Darzi said:
“The NHS sees a million people every 36 hours. Unfortunately, as in any modern health service, mistakes and unforeseen incidents will happen. Only a very small number of errors put patients at serious risk.

“It is really encouraging to see that the overall compliance rate for core standards relating to safety is 92%. Failure to comply with all the standards does not necessarily mean that services are unsafe, but rather that some may not be meeting our high national standards.

“We know there’s more work to be done and are leading the way worldwide, having set up the National Patient Safety Agency and established a reporting and learning system to encourage open reporting. The introduction of quality metrics and quality accounts, as part of the programme of work set out in my review of the NHS, will refocus the attention of the boards of NHS bodies on the quality and safety of the care their organisations provide.

“We are making it easier for front-line staff to report patient safety incidents by adding a new and more accessible portal for them to use. The NPSA has recently run a specific project around increasing primary care reporting and is working with key partners to support work in this area including exploring the potential of introducing thematic reporting of patient safety incidents for general medical practice.”


USAID Increases Assistance for Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Dec 12,2008

The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing an additional $600,000 to help combat the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. This assistance is in addition to the $4 million water, sanitation, and hygiene emergency program USAID is already implementing in Zimbabwe.

“Before cholera was widespread, USAID was working alongside the international community to prepare for the possibility of an outbreak in Zimbabwe. We began building contingencies into our ongoing emergency programs, and we are increasing our assistance to help combat the spread of the disease,” said USAID administrator Henrietta H. Fore. “The United States is committed to helping the people of Zimbabwe.”

USAID has also deployed a team of experts to Zimbabwe to focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene and public health interventions. The team, including an expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will provide technical assistance and recommendations for further U.S. assistance.

This recent contribution brings the total United States humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe’s food and health crisis to more than $220 million since October 2007. The U.S. is the leading food donor, providing the majority of all international food aid distributed in Zimbabwe through non-governmental organizations and the World Food Program. In addition, the U.S. contributed over $30 million last year for HIV/AIDS programs, in addition to paying for 33 percent of the Global Fund’s multilateral programs.

For more information about USAID’s emergency humanitarian assistance programs, please visit: www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

Source: U.S. Agency for International Development


Approximately 38 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 years and over and nearly 12 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new nationwide government survey (1). This survey marks the first time questions were included on children’s use of CAM, which is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products such as herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic, and acupuncture that are not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine.

The survey, conducted as part of the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an annual study in which tens of thousands of Americans are interviewed about their health- and illness-related experiences, was developed by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The survey included questions on 36 types of CAM therapies commonly used in the United States — 10 types of provider-based therapies, such as acupuncture and chiropractic, and 26 other therapies that do not require a provider, such as herbal supplements and meditation.

“The 2007 NHIS provides the most current, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on Americans’ use of CAM,” said Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., director of NCCAM. “These statistics confirm that CAM practices are a frequently used component of Americans’ health care regimens, and reinforce the need for rigorous research to study the safety and effectiveness of these therapies. The data also point out the need for patients and health care providers to openly discuss CAM use to ensure safe and coordinated care.”

The 2007 survey results, released in a National Health Statistics Report by NCHS, are based on data from more than 23,300 interviews with American adults and more than 9,400 interviews with adults on behalf of a child in their household. The 2007 survey is the second conducted by NCCAM and NCHS — the first was done as part of the 2002 NHIS (2).

CAM Use Among Adults

Comparison of the data from the 2002 and 2007 surveys suggests that overall use of CAM among adults has remained relatively steady — 36 percent in 2002 and 38 percent in 2007. However, there has been substantial variation in the use of some specific CAM therapies, such as deep breathing, meditation, massage therapy, and yoga, which all showed significant increases.

The most commonly used CAM therapies among U.S. adults were

  • Nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products (17.7 percent)

Most common: fish oil/omega 3/DHA, glucosamine, echinacea, flaxseed oil or pills, and ginseng (3)

  • Deep breathing exercises (12.7 percent)
  • Meditation (9.4 percent)
  • Chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation (8.6 percent)
  • Massage (8.3 percent)
  • Yoga (6.1 percent).

Adults used CAM most often to treat pain including back pain or problems, neck pain or problems, joint pain or stiffness/other joint condition, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. Adult use of CAM therapies for head or chest colds showed a marked decrease from 2002 to 2007 (9.5 percent in 2002 to 2.0 percent in 2007).

Consistent with results from the 2002 data, in 2007 CAM use among adults was greater among:

  • Women (42.8 percent, compared to men 33.5 percent)
  • Those aged 30-69 (30-39 years: 39.6 percent, 40-49 years: 40.1 percent, 50-59 years: 44.1 percent, 60-69 years: 41.0 percent)
  • Those with higher levels of education (Masters, doctorate or professional: 55.4 percent)
  • Those who were not poor (poor: 28.9 percent, near poor: 30.9 percent, not poor: 43.3 percent)
  • Those living in the West (44.6 percent)
  • Those who have quit smoking (48.1 percent).

CAM Use Among Children

Overall, CAM use among children is nearly 12 percent, or about 1 in 9 children. Children are five times more likely to use CAM if a parent or other relative uses CAM. Other characteristics of adult and child CAM users are similar — factors such as socioeconomic status, geographic region, the number of health conditions, the number of doctor visits in the last 12 months, and delaying or not receiving conventional care because of cost are all associated with CAM use.

Among children who used CAM in the past 12 months, CAM therapies were used most often for back or neck pain, head or chest colds, anxiety or stress, other musculoskeletal problems, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD).

The most commonly used CAM therapies among children were

  • Nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products (3.9 percent)

Most common: echinacea, fish oil/omega 3/DHA, combination herb pill, flaxseed oil or pills, and prebiotics or probiotics

  • Chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation (2.8 percent)
  • Deep breathing exercises (2.2 percent)
  • Yoga (2.1 percent).

“The survey results provide information on trends and a rich set of data for investigating who in America is using CAM, the practices they use, and why,” said Richard L. Nahin, Ph.D., MPH, acting director of NCCAM’s Division of Extramural Research and co-author of the National Health Statistics Report. “Future analyses of these data may help explain some of the observed variation in the use of individual CAM therapies and provide greater insights into CAM use patterns among Americans.”

Inclusion and development of the 2007 supplement was supported, in part, by seven National Institutes of Health components: NCCAM; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institute of Mental Health; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Office of Dietary Supplements; and Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

(1) Barnes PM, Bloom B, Nahin R. CDC National Health Statistics Report #12. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults and Children: United States, 2007. December 10, 2008.

(2) Barnes P, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin R. CDC Advance Data Report #343. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002. May 27, 2004.

(3) While the reference period for overall use of nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products was for the past 12 months, the reference period for the use of specific nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products was reduced from 12 months in 2002, to 30 days in 2007 in order to be more congruent with other national surveys of dietary supplement use, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s mission is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM’s Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site at nccam.nih.gov.

The NCHS is a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS’s mission is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people. The CDC protects people’s health and safety by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries; enhances health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promotes healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations. The complete data set can be found under “What’s New” at www.cdc.gov/nchs.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Source: National Institutes of Health; National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine


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