While between a fifth and a third of Americans with health insurance are unhappy with their own health plans (depending on which plans, and which measures of unhappiness are used) most people continue to be satisfied with their health insurance according to Harris Interactive. This is true with employer-provided plans, health insurance which is bought by individuals and families, Medicare and Medicaid.
It is important to contrast these generally positive attitudes to people's own health plans and their more negative attitudes to managed care in general. Many other surveys have shown that people feel much more positively about their doctors, their members of Congress, their local communities and their local schools than they do about doctors, congressmen, society and schools generally. Clearly, many people who are satisfied with their own health insurance are critical of health insurance and managed care in general. Harris believes that these differences reflect the difference between personal experiences and the impact of negative media reports. The personal experiences of the public with their own health plans are not nearly as bad as their beliefs about health insurance and managed care, which in many cases come from what they see on television, in films or read in magazines and newspapers.
While levels of satisfaction have not changed much between December 2001 and December 2002, there have been some changes. Specifically:
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
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