2008 Symposium

Your Voice New Vision What Patients, Caregivers and the Public Have Told Us

National Public Radio correspondent Joanne Silberner moderated a real world reality check from patients about Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center's (HPC) policy principles.

Using focus group and national survey data along with video interviews from people around the country, Silberner and panel members discussed the public's perception and acceptance of HPC recommendations.

The online survey was conducted by Harris Interactive from Dec. 14 to 21, 2007, on behalf of the HPC. It included 1,018 U.S. residents. Participants were 25 to 75 years old and were involved in making health care decisions for their households.

The survey found that consumers want to play an active role in health care reform, but remain pessimistic about real change. Overwhelmingly, costs were the most pressing concern.

Less than half (43 percent) of respondents said they were satisfied, very satisfied or completely satisfied with health care in America as it is practiced today. Nearly 80 percent agreed that it was very important to increase the quality of health care and reduce costs.

But 66 percent felt these changes were unlikely to occur in the next 10 years.

"That pessimism doesn't mean that consumers were just throwing up their hands," says Robert Smoldt, executive director of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. "The reform ideas that resonated most showed that Americans want the information, tools, and access to providers to better manage their own health."

The most favored reform options, with between 70 percent and 79 percent of respondents ranking them as extremely important or very important were:

• Patients should be able to obtain accurate and complete information on their own health.
• Patients should have freedom of choice when they select doctors, hospitals and insurance.
• No one should be denied health insurance due to a pre-existing conditions.

For more information about the research, see the Mayo Clinic Health Policy blog.