Most Americans Want Health Care Reform

Nine of 10 people said it was important that they have one place or one doctor responsible for their primary care and coordination of all their care. And, nine of 10 wanted easier access to their medical records.

Seventy-three percent said they had difficulty getting a doctor appointment, phone advice, or after-hours care without going to the emergency department. Among insured patients, 26 percent said it was hard to get same- or next-day appointments when they were sick, and 39 percent said it was difficult to reach their doctors by phone when they needed them.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, thinks Americans are being ill served, given the amount of money spent on health care in the United States.

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"We now spend twice per capita what other developed nations spend on care, yet we die younger, have worse access to care, and are even behind on medical computerization," Woolhandler said. "These survey results are a clarion call for the health financing mechanism used elsewhere -- nonprofit national health insurance."

Kathleen D. Stoll, director of Health Policy at Families USA, thinks the survey reinforces what is already known about Americans' frustration with the current health care system.

"We have seen the number of uninsured rise. We have seen people facing higher out-of-pocket costs. We see layers of complications in terms of billing problems," she said. "All that adds up to an American public that is quite ready for health care reform."

In a separate report titled Organizing the U.S. Health Care System for High Performance, The Commonwealth Fund outlined its strategies for improving the health care system.

Among the recommendations was moving away from fee-for-service payments and paying doctors and hospitals based on the quality of care. In addition, the report recommends patient incentives that reward them for choosing doctors and hospitals that provide the most efficient, highest quality care.