WASHINGTON
— A new poll of AARP
members released today finds strong support across party and
ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in
the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently
passed the House of Representatives. The bill, which
strictly limits how much more insurance companies can charge
based on age and closes the Medicare prescription drug doughnut
hole, was endorsed by AARP.
Among AARP members, strong
majorities reported that many of the bill’s key provisions
were convincing reasons to support the legislation. These
include strictly limiting insurers from charging much higher
premiums because of age (68%), closing the gap in
Medicare’s prescription drug coverage known as the
doughnut hole (69%) and improving coverage for critical
preventive services like cancer screenings (77%).
“This survey
demonstrates what we’ve been hearing from our members for
a long time,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice
President. “Despite an inflammatory debate on a very
personal and important issue, our members—across party and
ideological lines—support health care reform that protects
Medicare, lowers the price of prescription drugs, increases
their access to coverage and protects their choice of doctors.”
While a partisan divide was
evident when respondents were asked about the current plan in
Congress, AARP members supported the legislation by more than a
2-1 (63%-30%) margin. More than half of self-described
independents indicated support for the plan.
Other reform elements with
high levels of support among AARP members included ensuring
Americans can see the doctor of their choice (76%), stopping
insurance companies from denying coverage because of a
person’s health history (75%) and ensuring Americans can
keep their current coverage (78%). Majorities of
self-identified Republicans supported most of the reform
elements presented, including stopping discrimination because of
pre-existing conditions (66%), covering routine preventive care
(64%) and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices (64%).
LeaMond added: “The bill
recently passed by the House incorporates the reforms that our
members care most about. We’ll continue the fight
for these critical elements as the Senate takes up its own
legislation in the coming weeks. Our members, and all
older Americans, are counting on lawmakers to reform the health
care system this year.”
Starting on Tuesday, November
17th, AARP will launch a new national television ad on a mix of
news, lifestyle, cable and sports channels. The ad,
entitled “HELP,” demonstrates that people from all
walks of life are feeling stranded by the current health care
system. It calls attention to the need for the kind of
health care reform AARP has been fighting for: reform that will
put patients first, protect Medicare, bring down drug costs and
ensure that no one can be denied affordable health care because
of their age or health history.
AARP surveyed its members on
key health care reform provisions supported by AARP, as well as
other contentious issues being discussed in the debate.
The telephone survey, fielded October 30 to November 8, 2009,
was conducted with randomly selected members of AARP. The
nationally representative sample of 803 AARP members has a
margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
The complete survey is
available at
http://www.aarp.org/research/surveys/care/health/hcreform/articles/hrhcr.html
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