Weekly Policy Update: New Survey Provides Limited Insight into Coloradans’ views on Healthcare
By: Colorado BioScience Association Date: 09/03/2021
Consumers for Quality Care (CQC) who state they are a coalition of advocates and former policymakers working to provide a voice for patients in the health care debate as they demand better care, released the results of a Colorado specific survey this week titled: Coloradans Expectations Around Health Care Cost and Quality Coming Out of COVID Pandemic. Chris Keating, one of the pollsters behind the survey was quoted in a press release saying that “These poll results should be a wake-up call to our policymakers to reduce the out-of-pocket costs of care.”
Highlighted survey findings from CQC:
- By more than a 5-to-1 margin (42% more likely / 8% less likely), Senator Michael Bennet’s proposed legislation that allows the FDA to accelerate approval of breakthrough therapies makes voters more likely to vote for him.
- A majority (62%) support the Colorado Standard Health Benefit Plan Act that was recently passed by the State Legislature, with both Democrats (80% support) and Republicans (55% support) showing strong support for the plan.
- Though cost continues to be a priority that Coloradans want elected officials to address (54% cite cost as the thing they want their leaders to work on most), coming out of the pandemic, voters are seeking targeted, careful fixes to the health care system. Most agree we should be cautious making changes as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic (65% agree), and they are looking to Congress for targeted fixes that build on the current system (54%) rather than fundamentally transforming it (35%).
However, caution should be taken with viewing the results of the survey as a true representative sample of Coloradans and policy action that is needed. This caution first comes from the methodology used to conduct the survey where it was conducted online over five days in July with 604 registered voters participating. In comparison, The Colorado Health Foundation’s annual Pulse survey which last year surveyed 2,275 Coloradans over a nineteen-day period and utilized a combination of landline, cellphone, and online interviews (2021 results released on Sept. 16th). The next area of caution is that CQC did not release any cross-tabulation (or crosstab) data which allows for deeper external analysis of the survey results. Lastly, it is not clear if CQC collected any demographic data outside of an individual’s political affiliation, which is an important consideration but provides a very limited scope of understanding of who completed the survey. For instance, it is commonly understood that an individual’s view on healthcare in the state can be dependent on where they live, survey respondents from rural and mountain communities’ views are typically not in line with those who live along the I-25 corridor or within metro Denver.
CBSA is committed to promoting strategies and public policies that improve public health and build healthier communities in Colorado. This includes advancing proposals to prevent disease, reduce health disparities, and foster equitable access to therapies and technologies. And it is essential that conversations with policymakers on these critical issues are based on the most accurate and well researched data available.