Poll charts U.S. concerns about healthcare costs

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama costs too much and expands the government’s role too far, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

The USA Today/Gallup survey of 1,033 adults, conducted between March 26 and March 28, suggests an uphill challenge for President Barack Obama and other Democrats as they try to persuade voters that the healthcare reforms are an important benefit.

The findings show that 65 percent of Americans believe the reforms cost too much, while 64 percent say they bring too much government involvement into the private healthcare industry.

Fifty-eight percent said the reforms don’t do enough to curb rising healthcare costs.

Fifty-one percent of the respondents said the plan should have gone farther in regulating the industry. About 52 percent said the plan should have included a public option to provide low-cost insurance, a feature Democratic leaders abandoned as politically impractical in the face of opposition from Republicans and conservative Democrats.

The findings have a 4 percentage point margin of error.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

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