Most Americans oppose health law but like provisions

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:37am IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama's healthcare reform even though they strongly support most of its provisions, Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Sunday, with the Supreme Court set to rule within days on whether the law should stand.
Fifty-six percent of people are against the healthcare overhaul and 44 percent favor it, according to the online poll conducted from Tuesday through Saturday.

The survey results suggest that Republicans are convincing voters to reject Obama's reform even when they like much of what is in it, such as allowing children to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.

Strong majorities favor most of what is in the law.

A glaring exception to the popular provisions is the "individual mandate," which requires most U.S. residents to own health insurance.

Sixty-one percent of Americans are against the mandate, the issue at the center of the Republicans' contention that the law is unconstitutional, while 39 percent favor it.
"That's really the thing that has come to define the (reform) and is the thing that could potentially allow the Supreme Court to dismantle it if they decide it's not constitutional," Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said.

In good news for Republicans at November's congressional elections, 45 percent said they were more likely to vote for a member of Congress who campaigned on a platform of repealing the law, versus 26 percent who said it would make them less likely, the survey showed.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the 2010 healthcare reform, Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, this week, possibly as early as Monday.

The political stakes are sky-high on an issue that has galvanized conservative opposition to the Democratic president, and how the court's decision is framed politically could influence the outcome of the November 6 general election.

Support for the provisions of the healthcare law was strong, with a full 82 percent of survey respondents, for example, favoring banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

Sixty-one percent are in favor of allowing children to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26 and 72 percent back requiring companies with more than 50 employees to provide insurance for their employees.

PARTISAN DIVISION
Americans are strongly divided along partisan lines. Among Republicans, 86 percent oppose and 14 percent favor the law and Democrats back it by a 3-to-1 margin, 75 percent to 25 percent, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

But in what could be a key indicator for the presidential contest, people who describe themselves as political independents oppose the law by 73 percent to 27 percent.

Opposition among independents has been growing. In a survey conducted in April, two weeks after the Supreme Court heard the case, 63 percent of them opposed the measure, and 37 percent favored it.
"Republicans have won the argument with independents and that's really been the reason that we see the majority of the public opposing it," Jackson said.

Republicans have dominated the political message on healthcare with calls to "repeal and replace" the law, condemned by conservatives as a government intrusion into private industry and the lives of private citizens. It passed in March 2010 with no Republican support in Congress.

Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has promised to repeal the law if he defeats Obama, although he has not offered a plan of his own. Obama, who says he modeled the measure on a healthcare plan Romney passed as governor of Massachusetts, has defended it.

Obama critics - some from within his own party - have also questioned the president for focusing on healthcare reform early in his term instead of doing everything he could to fix the struggling U.S. economy.

Democrats back the measure as an effort to improve the lives of Americans and essential to control spiraling costs that are undermining the country's overall economic health. Healthcare expenditures in the United States neared $2.6 trillion in 2010, over 10 times the $256 billion spent in 1980, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

A good portion of the opposition to the healthcare law is because Americans want more reform, not less of it.

The poll found that a large number of Americans - including about one-third of Republicans and independents who disagree with the law - oppose it because it does not go far enough to fix healthcare.
Seventy-one percent of Republican opponents reject it overall, while 29 percent feel it does not go far enough, while independent opponents are divided 67 percent to 33 percent. Among Democratic opponents, 49 percent reject it overall, and 51 percent wish the measure went further.

"If you add the people that oppose it because they think it doesn't go far enough, you get a majority of Americans, so it doesn't mean that healthcare reform is dead," Jackson said.

There was party division in Americans' view of the individual mandate. Overall, 61 percent of Americans oppose requiring all U.S. residents to own health insurance. Among Republicans, the percentage rose to 81 percent, and it was 73 percent among independents. But a majority of Democrats - 59 percent - favor the individual mandate.

The survey of 1,043 Americans was conducted from June 19-23. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Doina Chiacu)
(This story was refiled to correct description of individual mandate in 5th paragraph)

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-usa-campaign-healthcare-idINBRE85N01M20120625

UPDATE 2-Patent overhaul bill clears U.S. House

Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:50pm EDT

* Senate has already passed similar version* Lets patent office set fees, aims to reduce litigation
* Critics say harder for inventors to defend patents
* House version still keeps a leash on funds (Adds comment from companies, lawmakers)

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - Patent legislation that aims to clear a years-long backlog of applications and allows the patent office set its own fees was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.
Supporters say the bill will help the patent office hire more examiners and clear out more than 700,000 applications that are awaiting approval or rejection.
Critics say the measure will make it harder for inventors to defend their patents against infringement.
The House voted 304 to 117 to approve the bill. The Senate passed a very similar bill by an overwhelming margin in March. Differences between the two versions must now be ironed out.
The Business Software Alliance, Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) and International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) all praised the bill as good for their companies.
"The average wait time for patent approval in the U.S. is three years," said Representative Lamar Smith, who shepherded the bill through the House.
He said unwarranted lawsuits typically cost $5 million dollars to defend and prevent legitimate inventors and companies from creating products and generating jobs.
"I look forward to working with the Senate to get a bill to the president's desk and finally seeing these important reforms enacted into law," he added.
The legislation would change the U.S. patent application system to a "first inventor to file" procedure, instead of requiring inventors to prove that they were the first to come up with the innovation they are requesting a patent on.
Other provisions in the bill aim to prevent bad patents from being issued, by allowing third parties to provide information on why an application should be rejected.
The bill also amends rules for challenging patents after they are granted, which proponents say is cheaper than litigation.
One of the last stumbling blocks to House passage had been a dispute between the House Judiciary and Appropriations Committees over how to fund the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Under a compromise reached this week, the PTO would set its own fees but any surplus money would go into a fund overseen by congressional appropriations panels.
But some lawmakers remain critical of the House version because of the continued meddling with PTO finances.
"What the House passed today is not the comprehensive reform that our country needs," said Representative John Conyers. "(The bill) fails to include the most important reform we could have enacted -- ending the diversion of fees from the Patent and Trademark Office." (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/patent-congress-idUSN1E75M1XH20110623?feedType=RSS&feedName=governmentFilingsNews&rpc=43

New Health Reform Benefits Going Into Effect on January 1

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Starting on January 1, a number of important new benefits will go into effect under the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress earlier this year. As the new year begins, insurance companies will have to abide by new requirements on how premium dollars are spent, Medicare enrollees will get free preventive care and access to drug discounts, community health centers will receive more funding, and all hospitals will begin reporting certain patient infection rates.

"These benefits are important new building blocks of the new health law that will ultimately help ensure that more Americans have greater access to affordable, high-quality care," said DeAnn Friedholm, director of Consumers Union's health reform campaign. "Starting in 2011, more insurance premium dollars will go towards medical care instead of profits, seniors will have better access to preventive care, and all hospitals will begin to disclose their infection rates to the public."

Starting January 1, the Affordable Care Act will require:

More Premium Dollars Going to Medical Care: If you are covered by an individual or small group policy, your insurer must spend 80 percent of the premiums it collects on medical care or activities that improve the quality of care. For those covered by large group policies, insurers must spend an even higher amount -- 85 percent. Beginning in 2012, insurers who fail to meet this "medical loss ratio" must provide policyholders with a rebate instead of pocketing those excessive premiums.

New Medicare Preventive Health Benefits: If you are covered by Medicare, you can get an annual wellness visit and a personalized prevention plan at no cost. Medicare beneficiaries will also be able to get immunizations and screenings for cancer and diabetes without co-pays.

Drug Discounts for Medicare Recipients: If you have Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D), you will be eligible for a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs and a 7 percent discount on generic drugs if you have a coverage gap (also know as the "donut hole"). These discounts will increase each year until the donut hole is completely eliminated by 2020.

Increased Funding for Community Health Centers: If you rely on Community Health Centers for free or low cost care, you'll benefit from new federal funding to support these centers.

Hospitals Must Report Certain Patient Infections: Hospitals will now have to track and report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network when patients get central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in intensive care units. HHS plans to issue a public report on hospital-specific CLABSI infection rates later in the year. By requiring public reporting of infection rates, HHS aims to help patients learn more about their hospital's infection control track record and put pressure on hospitals to improve their care.


SOURCE Consumers Union

Back to top