4 in 5 Americans believe that it is important for President Obama to include health reform in addressing the economic crisis in the U.S., according to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Care Consumer Confidence Index based on data gathered in June 2009.

While the mass media headlines on this survey in the past 24 hours have generally been, “health confidence is rising in America,” the data underneath this pronouncement is not nearly as sanguine as that headline implies.

Women, people with lower health status, less education, and Baby Boomers of pre-retirement age are most likely to feel “health insecure” according to the Index. Once again, I’ll point to women-as-caregivers and household health decision makers as feeling less health-secure — as I found women were from Mars and men from Venus in last week’s Zogby Poll asking whether health care is a human right.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: Health confidence may be up among some Americans, but 4 in 10 Americans remain worried they will not be able to afford health care in the future.



This survey confirms what we’ve learned from other polls in this season of health reform polling – that it is cost and economic factors driving Americans’ views on health reform in these recessionary times.