Community Health Foundation Implements Health Insurance Survey

The Buffalo News reported that when 1,700 Western New Yorkers were questioned by local health care reformers, their top concerns centered around how they are treated by medical professionals and how to get broader access to care.

In Washington, the top concern is how to pay for changes in a system that consumes an astounding 17 percent of gross domestic product—far more than any competitor nation—without covering everyone and with no commensurate benefit for the extra money.

That disconnect underlines the health care crisis of 2009, where patients worry about quality, politicians worry about costs, and conservatives try to use both concerns to kill reform—again.
That’s why it’s noteworthy that controlling costs was not among the top five concerns that came out of 114 community meetings to hear what Western New Yorkers want.

That may be because many on public programs or who have good employer coverage don’t feel costs very directly, said Ann F. Monroe, president of the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York, one of the organizers of this unprecedented project. Read more here.