Poll Memo - Maine Health Care

MEMORANDUM CELINDA C. LAKE President

To:

Interested Parties

ALYSIA R. SNELL Partner

From:

Celinda Lake, David Mermin, and Dan Spicer, Lake Research Partners

Subject:

Recent statewide polling in Maine on health care reform1

Date:

September 17, 2009

MICHAEL J. PERRY Partner DAVID MERMIN Partner DR. ROBERT G. MEADOW Partner DANIEL R. GOTOFF Partner JOSHUA ULIBARRI Partner RICK A. JOHNSON Vice President TRESA UNDEM Vice President ROBERT X. HILLMAN Chief Financial Officer ALAN C. WOLF Chief Operating Officer

Recent polling among likely voters in Maine shows plurality support for President Obama’s health insurance reform plan with solid majority support once voters hear the details of the plan. A plurality (47%) back President Obama’s proposed health insurance reform plan with 34% opposed. Once given details of health insurance reform, a majority (59%) of voters support the proposal (39% strongly) with 34% opposed (24% strongly). A majority of Democrats and Independents, men and women, older and younger voters, and both urban and rural voters support this reform plan. Only among Republicans are a majority opposed.i Voters want the choice of a public health insurance option now, especially if there is a mandate to buy health insurance. They do not want to wait for a “trigger” where the public health insurance option is offered only if private health insurance companies fail to make health care affordable. In head-to-head debates between having the public health insurance option as a back up if reforms fail to make health care affordable and including the public health insurance option as part of the reform package at the outset, a majority (54%) believe the public health insurance option is needed as part of the reform if there is a mandate to buy health insurance. Just 24% think the public health insurance option should be a back up only, and only 16% reject the public health insurance option under any circumstance. In a version arguing that the public health insurance option should be included in reform because private health insurance companies have already failed to make health care affordable, roughly half (49%) favor that position, whereas 29% prefer the public health insurance option only as a back up. A mere 13% reject the public health insurance option in either instance. ii While a mandate that everyone buy and be covered by a private health insurance plan is unpopular, a majority of Maine voters favor the mandate ONLY IF they have a choice between a public health insurance option and private insurance plans. Only 35% favor and 55% oppose a proposal “requiring everyone to buy and be covered by a private health insurance plan.” When tested with “a choice between a

1

Lake Research Partners conducted a survey of 400 likely voters statewide in Maine September 14-16, 2009. Margin of error is +/-4.9%. 1726 M Street, NW | Suite 1100 | Washington, DC 20036 | T 202.776.9066 | F 202.776.9074 WASHINGTON, DC | BERKELEY, CA | NEW YORK, NY | LOS ANGELES, CA | RICHMOND, VA www.lakeresearch.com

Maine Health Insurance Reform Polling Memo

Page 2

public health insurance option and private insurance plans,” support for the mandate increases to 55% with only 4 in 10 opposed. Voters also support creating a public health insurance option to compete with private insurance companies. Fully 58% favor “creating a public health insurance option to compete with private insurance companies” while just 35% oppose this component. Voters support paying for reform through raising taxes on those making more than $350,000 a year and oppose paying for it by taxing high-cost insurance plans. Fully 57% support “raising taxes on households making more than $350,000 a year to pay for health care reform” with 38% opposed while fully half (50%) oppose “placing a tax on the highest-cost private insurance policies to pay for health care reform.” Only 4 in 10 favor that proposal. Finally, a majority of voters also favor employers sharing responsibility for providing health care. A majority (56%) favor “requiring all but the smallest of businesses to either provide health benefits or pay a tax that helps their employees afford coverage” with 37% opposed to this proposal.

******* For more information, please contact Celinda Lake at 202-776-9066 or David Mermin at 510-286-2097. i

“Now, let me give you a little more information about the health insurance reform plan in Congress, and get your reaction. Under the plan, insurance companies would be required to cover people with pre-existing conditions, and couldn’t charge more or cancel if you get sick. People could keep their existing insurance, but if they aren’t covered at work they could choose between private insurance plans and a new public health insurance option. Everyone would be required to have health insurance, and families of four making less than eighty-eight thousand dollars would receive a discount. Small businesses would receive tax credits to help them provide coverage, and large companies would be required to either provide health insurance, or pay a tax to help employees buy their own coverage. The plan would be paid for with cost savings in the health care system, and higher taxes on households making over three hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. From what you have heard, do you favor or oppose this plan?” ii Each version of the question was read to half of all respondents, with options rotated. “And which of the following statements comes closer to your own view? The public health insurance option should be a back-up; we should only offer it in case reforms to private health insurance companies don’t result in making health care affordable for most people. Because people are going to be required to buy health insurance, we need to offer the choice of an affordable public health insurance option to provide competition so that people aren’t at the mercy of private insurance companies.” “And which of the following statements comes closer to your own view? The public health insurance option should be a back-up; we should only offer it in case reforms to private health insurance companies don’t result in making health care affordable for most people. Private health insurance companies have failed to make health care affordable. People need the choice of an affordable public health insurance option and not just private insurance.”

Lake Research Partners