Oregon Public Broadcasting

This week, we're digging into a new public radio survey of people in the Northwest. The point of the poll is to hear the views of ordinary people, rather than those of the ideological extremes or the politically connected. The survey is a collaboration of the Northwest Health Foundation, the polling firm Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall and public radio stations across the Northwest, including OPB. In this next story, we're looking deeper into how people in the Northwest feel about the national debate over health care. As Doug Nadvornick reports, many say they're confused about one key point of President Obama's health care plan.

Source: Davis, Hibbitts, & Midghall, Inc. (DHM), February 2010

We want everyone to have car insurance because it lowers the risk that we'll get stuck with a colossal bill after a fender bender. Now imagine having to carry a card like this to prove you have health insurance.President Barack Obama: “It makes sense for us to have everybody purchase insurance.”So proclaimed President Obama at his February 25th health care summit. The idea, he says, is that everyone, both the sick and the healthy, should be in the insurance pool. He and many Democrats in Congress argue that, ultimately, that would drive down the cost of everyone's insurance.But at the same summit, Michigan Representative Dave Camp argued that not everyone agrees with that.Representative Dave Camp: “The American people have told us they don't want to be forced to buy health insurance that they don't want and they can't afford.”A large number of Northwest residents appear to agree: 41-percent of the 1,200 people surveyed recently as part of the new public radio poll. That's how many say their state government should be able to opt-out of any federal health insurance mandate. The poll has a margin of error of 4.8 percent. In Idaho, with its conservative and libertarian traditions, 46-percent support an opt-out, including Deanna Wendland from Boise.Deanna Wendland: “You know, I just kind of believe that, whether it's at the local level or the federal level, if the government's going to get involved, they're going to make regulations and cause problems. They just complicate it too much.”Regionwide, about one in three appear to support the idea of a federal mandate, saying it would lower the cost for everyone. One of those is Reed Hoskinson from Rigby, Idaho.Reed Hoskinson: “I think that we need to go ahead with the health plan and develop, I guess, a public health option and that could include the mandate that people had to buy into it, with the understanding that there would be subsidies for low-income people and things like that.”That's essentially the plan advocated by Congressional Democrats and President Obama. If approved, the health care overhaul would add another 31 million Americans to the insurance pool. In the Northwest, the Senate plan would include 150,000 newly insured in Idaho, 422,000 in Oregon and 521,000 in Washington.Those numbers come from the advocacy group Families USA, which supports a federal mandate. But the group's Ron Pollack says a mandate only makes sense if people can afford to buy insurance.Ron Pollack: “And that's why what needs to go in tandem with any mandate is adequate subsidies to make sure that people who otherwise couldn't afford health coverage can afford coverage.”But Pollack says that's just one aspect of the broader health care debate. He says the year-long process of developing a health plan has been so complicated that it's difficult for even hard-core followers like him to keep up.Ron Pollack: “And as a result, I think a lot of people still are not yet familiar with what's in the legislation, let alone how it will affect them.”And these new poll numbers bear that out. More than a quarter of those surveyed say they don't know enough to have an opinion about the health care mandate. And that may be why Democrats are having such a hard time winning support.Pollster Adam Davis says the survey respondents appear to be asking deeper questions about health reform and how they fit into it.Adam Davis: “What does this mean in terms of cost? And also, what does it mean – you say that you're going to lower insurance rates – well, how much lower? And what do I get in terms of the health insurance, in terms of the coverage? And that's really unclear at the national level.”At the Idaho state level, lawmakers in Boise are moving toward prohibiting the state from enforcing a federal mandate. Davis says they appear to be on solid ground politically, at least in Idaho. A slightly higher number in Oregon and Washington share the view that a federal mandate would lower the rates for everyone.However the Congressional battle over health care reform turns out, people like Matt Matthews of Hayden, Idaho have been turned off by the process.Matt Matthews: “I get rather ticked off at Washington politics because that's all it is is politics. Come together. Let's do something about health care. Everybody knows it's needed.”But knowing it's needed is one thing. Knowing what to do about it is another. The poll shows that those who are proposing an answer haven't yet convinced a majority of people in the Northwest that they're on the right track.I'm Doug Nadvornick reporting.