Blame Game: MFP Poll Shows Voters Blame Insurers for High Costs, Demanding Reforms

POLITICO PULSE

BLAME GAME — Likely voters in 16 Congressional battleground districts blame insurers for rising health care costs and say premiums, deductibles and copays are their biggest health cost worries, according to a survey conducted by conservative polling company McLaughlin & Associates.

The survey, commissioned by Unleash Prosperity — a supply-side economics advocacy group co-founded by Steve Forbes — found that the largest share of likely voters — nearly 40 percent — blame big health insurers for rising health costs, followed by Congress and the federal government at just over 36 percent, and drug companies at just over 8 percent. The rest said they blame hospitals and corporate drug intermediaries.

Additionally, 66 percent report viewing the rising cost of health insurance as their greatest health care concern, with 18 percent saying they’re most concerned about the quality of care they receive and 6.5 percent saying they’re most worried about the cost of medicines.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted between January 8 and 11 and used a mix of landline and mobile phones and online interviews.

Why it matters: The survey comes amid a finger-pointing battle between pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and insurers over who is to blame for rising health insurance costs. House Republicans have summoned top health insurance executives to testify Thursday on Capitol Hill as part of a broader effort to examine health care costs.

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