- Community Transformation
- Central PA healthcare poll
Central PA healthcare poll
Transforming Health | 11.26.12
The poll found that healthcare consumers still don't know a lot about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but from what they do know, most believe healthcare will cost them more.
Almost half of the Central Pennsylvanians surveyed in witf's Transforming Health poll say that our system of delivering and paying for healthcare should be completely rebuilt. That's just one of the findings from the poll conducted by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College.
The poll also found that healthcare consumers still don't know a lot about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but from what they do know, most believe healthcare will cost them more.
Berwood Yost, the Center's director joins Radio Smart Talk's Scott LaMar to discuss and analyze the poll results.
Listen to the program:
A question for Radio Smart Talk listeners to ponder -- what is the biggest issue related to healthcare we as a nation face today? Write your answers below.
Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College, joins witf's Radio Smart Talk to talk about a poll of central Pennsylvanians' views on health care.
The poll was conducted as part of the roll out of witf's new Transforming Health initiative which is a broad-based, multimedia project with a goal of presenting the policy and personal choices Americans face as the nation's healthcare system. Listen to the kick-off of the project here.
witf's listeners, viewers and web users will hear about new concepts, like having a home-base for every patient—a single point of contact for our medical records, diagnoses and referrals. We will discover what it means for a hospital or health system to become an “accountable care organization”—and what responsibilities come to us as citizens and patients. Transforming Health will talk with city and county elected officials about how the right decisions on zoning, transportation and schools can improve health quality for every resident.
By taking a closer look at health care, its quality and its costs, and the importance of maintaining health in the first place, through individual and collective action, we’ll all be better prepared to face the rapidly approaching future of health in America and in Central Pennsylvania.
Related stories:
- Central Pennsylvania's biggest health needs
- TV Smart Talk: Transforming Health
- The Affordable Care Act: What is it?
- Read some of the key features of the law
- Healthcare law Q & A: Listen to a conversation with experts on the ACA
Published in Community Transformation, Healthcare Transformation
Tagged under Affordable Care Act, community, health insurance exchange, obesity, patient-cenetered medical home, poll, prevention
THealth
2012-12-04 14:10
Bonnie shared:
Hi,
I moved down from Maine a little over a year ago. My doctor there who was a member of a rural health center was able to send my records to my primary care down here electronically which made the process much faster.
When I went to the rural health center in Maine, I usually requested an appointment with my designated primary care doctor because he was most familiar with my history, my family (he was our family doctor) and my quirks. However, when he was not available, I was very comfortable with any member of the facility including the nurse practioner or physician's assistant. Here in Pennsylvania, I have found both my primary care physician and the specialists I've seen to be interested in helping me maintain my good health. I found the physician's assistant at the Hershey Medical Center as knowledgeable (if not more so) than some of the doctors with whom I've dealt in the area of her specialty.
I think people need to be an active partner in their own health care and I believe the Affordable Healthcare Act will help us move in that direction.
THealth
2012-12-04 14:10
Ellen shared:
Dr.s are human, too...
And the reason so many accept Medicare today is because the Feds put incredible pressure on doctors in the 1980"s: making it illegal to increase fees for ANY service, even as malpractice insurance, salaries for staff, Social Security insurance & Unemployment insurance was increasing as expenses doctors had to incorporate into thier budget... UNLESS the doctor knuckled under & signed the Fed's agreement to accept whatever the Feds would dictate in accpeting Medicare insurance. agreeing to enroll Medicare. At the time, it was a negative to the balance sheet. Like charity care & doctors shudder everytime the Fed speaks on "payment".
People vote with their feet. (Did you notice that on Black Friday?)
Do you really suppose in the long run that doctors will behave differently?
THealth
2012-12-04 14:11
E-mail from Bill:
"I am wondering how much of the objections from the medical community are due to the potential loss of income and upper level social status currently enjoyed by doctors seemingly on the backs of the rest of us."