A new poll commissioned by the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) shows what women want when it comes to healthcare reform.
The poll, conducted by WomenTrend, surveyed 800 registered women voters. Nicole Kurokawa, a senior policy analyst with IWF, says the questions asked were open-ended — not just a simple “Do you support a public option – yes or no.”
“I think women are often assumed to be more liberal and…sympathetic to taking care of others — and we found out that that’s true,” says Kurokawa. “But [we found] also they don’t necessarily want the government option for them.”
According to the survey, women are by-and-large satisfied with their current healthcare system, says the IWF analyst. “And they really prefer the private sector and trust the private sector to give them actual choice and to keep costs lower than they trust the government [to do],” she adds.
The poll found that 51 percent of women surveyed were not happy with what they have seen or heard concerning the healthcare reform proposals being pushed on Capitol Hill. Sixty-one percent believe the private sector does a better job with providing healthcare, and 43 percent believe Congress should not rush healthcare reform.
Ten percent of those surveyed did not have healthcare insurance, but Kurokawa says when looking at that small cross-section the results pretty much stayed the same.
