Majority of Americans Want Massachusetts-Style Health Law

April 12, 2006 — -- With Gov. Mitt Romney set to sign Massachusetts' new universal health care coverage law today, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds the idea a popular one: Fifty-five percent of Americans say they'd support similar legislation in their own states.

The law, described by its supporters as a national model, requires all residents of the state to have health insurance. It includes a tax penalty for people who don't buy insurance, a $295 per-worker fee for businesses that don't provide it, and subsidies to help poor and low-income residents pay premiums.

Health care is a potent political issue: Seventy-five percent of Americans say it weighs very heavily in their vote in congressional elections this fall, ranking it just after Iraq, terrorism and the economy. Among people who call health care a top issue, 58 percent of those polled support a version of the Massachusetts law in their own states; among those who call the subject less important, support drops to 45 percent.

It's also an issue on which the Republicans would like to reclaim territory. Currently, 62 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Bush has handled health care, and the public trusts the Democratics over the Republicans to handle it by a whopping 61 to 29 percent. Romney, a Republican, may run for president in 2008.

Critics have called the measure a government intrusion. Support levels vary among groups, declining among Republicans and conservatives. But in neither group does a majority oppose the idea.

Fifty-eight percent of Democrats and Independents alike say they'd support such a plan in their own states. Republicans are more divided -- 49 percent in favor, 46 percent opposed. Similarly, 58 percent of liberals and moderates are in favor; conservatives split 50-46 percent. Support drops to 45 percent among evangelical white Protestants, a core conservative Republican group, with 47 percent opposed.