Supreme Court Ruling Won’t Mute Varied Health Care Concerns

June 28, 2012 at 07:28 AM
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Despite the Supreme Court on Thursday largely upholding President Obama's Affordable Care Act, 5-4, the consensus is that the nation's health care problems will not disappear and that Washington will still have its hands full for years to come on such issues as how to fix Medicare, reining in the high cost of care as well as how to insure the millions of uninsured.

A day before the ruling, Doug Schneider, CEO of Connecture, which makes the systems through which more than 25 million Americans buy their health insurance, gave his prediction about the future of healthcare, regardless of how the Court rules.

"The debate will continue about how this [Supreme Court] decision will impact the healthcare system in the long term, especially as it relates to managing and containing costs," Schneider said. "What is certain is that states, brokers, and health insurance carriers absolutely must take the friction out of the health insurance purchasing process as a key part of an overall cost-containment strategy. This will ultimately be a win for consumers, because they will have more choice and accessibility in working with insurance carriers."

But as a recent survey found, health care issues will remain long past Thursday's ruling. Connecture released a survey of 1,285 U.S. healthcare consumers this week which gauged their knowledge of–and attitudes toward–healthcare, health insurance and reform of both.

While full results of the survey won't be released for a few weeks, Connecture released a sneak peek of the findings. The survey found:

  • Less than half of Americans say they understand the terms "single-payer system" (47.7%), "insurance exchange" (29.9%), or "underwriting" (49.0%).
  • Americans are evenly divided in terms of their views about health insurance reform–36.1% report having a favorable view, 36.7% say they have a unfavorable view, and 27.2% say they are unsure.
  • Nearly half of respondents (48.8%) indicated they had no idea what they pay monthly for health insurance.
  • More than half of Americans (61.7%) do not believe they would be eligible for assistance paying for health insurance under the existing reforms.

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