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Contact: Julie Preuss
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Americans Divided Over Historic Health Reform Law NORWALK, Connecticut, USA (April 30, 2010) - The new health care reform package signed into law by President Barack Obama last month continues to polarize U.S. adults, with 42 percent supporting it and 44 percent opposing it. The number one reason for that opposition: 81 percent think the law makes the wrong changes. And, 39 percent say the law would be "bad" for people like them, while 26 percent aren't sure. These are the major findings in a just-released poll of 2,285 adults surveyed online between April 14 and 16 by Harris Interactive, one of the world's leading custom market research firms, and HealthDay, a leading producer and syndicator of health news. Americans did come together - by a 58 percent to 24 percent majority - to agree that the legislation will provide many more people with health insurance. By 2019, an additional 32 million uninsured individuals will gain coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Another key feature is the legislation allows young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance plan until age 26, and that change takes effect this year. "The public is divided partly because of ideological reasons, partly because of partisanship and partly because most people don't see this as benefiting them. They see it as benefiting the uninsured," said Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, a service of Harris Interactive. Obama said his plan would "bring down the cost of health care for millions of families, businesses, and the federal government." But some have questioned the legislation's cost-containment provisions. The poll found that more people think the plan will be bad for containing the cost of health care (41 percent to 35 percent), for strengthening the economy (42 percent to 29 percent), and for the quality of care in America (40 percent to 34 percent). Read the full report for all the details of the poll. HealthDay's news report is available here. Full data on the poll and its methodology are available at Harris Interactive. About HealthDay HealthDay, a division of Scout News LLC, is a leading producer and syndicator of evidence-based health news for consumers and physicians and is the largest syndicator of that news to Internet sites. Its consumer health news service (www.healthday.com) appears on more than 5,000 Web sites such as Yahoo!, MSN, iVillage, US News & World Report, hundreds of hospitals and hospital group Web sites, as well as print publication Web sites across the country. HealthDay also produces Physician's Briefing (www.physiciansbriefing.com); a news service for physicians, nurses and other medical professionals that is updated twice daily providing 15 articles a day across 27 medical specialties. HealthDay also provides custom content for major health portals. The newest addition to the HealthDay portfolio is HealthDay TV -- a 90-second news broadcast of essential health information that appears on several major media Web sites, US government Web sites and other health information sites. About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
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