Rising Costs of Care Leave Americans Dissatisfied with the Health Care System
<p>Rising health care costs are a major driver of Americans' increasing dissatisfaction with the health care system, according to the 2006 <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=24999&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Ftopics%2Ftopics%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D416735%26%23doc416735">Health Confidence Survey,</a> published today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The Commonwealth Fund was a co-funder of the survey, which also found that Americans believe that steps should be taken to slow health care cost increases.<br><br>Half of adults are "not too" or "not at all" satisfied with their health care costs, up from one-third in 2005. One-third of Americans who had experienced rising costs reported that they reduced their savings for retirement as a result and one-quarter had difficulty paying for basic necessities.<br><br>Six in 10 survey participants rated the health care system as "fair" or "poor"; the percentage of people rating the system as "poor" has doubled since the inception of the annual Health Confidence Survey in 1998.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/oct/rising-costs-of-care-leave-americans-dissatisfied-with-the-health-care-system