ABC News' Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson says the U.S. health-care system is in Critical Condition
Jennings: Why are so many people in the ABCNEWS poll apparently happy with their health care? [The poll found 64 percent of people with health insurance said they are satisfied with their health care, but 59 percent are worried about being able to afford it in the future.]
Johnson: That’s always been an interesting question. They feel good about their own doctor, their own hospital. But when they start to think about it as a system, and what may happen to their health insurance and their employment, they get worried.
Jennings: Do you see a change in this for a year ago or two years ago?
Johnson: Absolutely. They numbers of concerned are going up. Three years ago, 44 percent were concerned about the overall care in this country, now 54 percent … that’s a 10 percent increase in just three years.
Jennings: The conventional wisdom is Americans like to think that we have the best health-care system in the world.
Johnson: And we do, certainly for people that are very rich or who have very good health insurance and who have very good connections into the health-care system. But for too large a number, 43 million, and many who are underinsured, it is not the very best system in the world.
Jennings: So what was notable in that regard in this poll this time?
Johnson: What was notable is that 62 percent of our population said that they would favor a system of universal health insurance financed by the government, paid for by the tax payers, as opposed to the system we now have, the employer based system where many people are uninsured. I was stunned by that figure.
Jennings: I think conventional wisdom has it that in America, land of the free, that the marketplace is where the price is best established.