From today’s SF Chronicle:

A majority of Bay Area residents believe government should guarantee health coverage for all citizens, but not through a state-run system, according to a survey scheduled for release today.

Eighty-three percent of 600 area residents polled in the nine-county region supported guaranteed coverage, according to the Bay Area Council, the business-backed policy group that commissioned the survey. The percentage dipped to 79 percent when respondents were asked if such coverage should include people living in California illegally.

When asked how the health system should be reformed, 47 percent said the existing health insurance system should be maintained and additional costs to cover the uninsured should be shared among employers, government and individuals. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a program along those lines.

Thirty-four percent said they supported replacing the current system with a new system administered entirely by the government. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, recently reintroduced a "single payer" bill, SB840, which would eliminate private health insurance and create a state-run system.

Only 11 percent said they favored relying on market competition to improve the current system. The random-sample telephone survey was conducted by Field Research Corp. between Jan. 8 and Jan. 14.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.