Poll Finds Health Care Rising as an Issue Among Independents; NEJM Article Discusses Business Community’s Role in Health Care System Overhaul

• Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation: According to the latest poll, the economy continues to be the No. 1 issue that voters want the presidential candidates to address, but health care has "crept up" as a priority among the key voting group of independents in recent months. The poll finds that one in four (26%) independents rank health care as one of the top issues they would "most like to hear the presidential candidates talk about." Health care's importance has risen among independents by eight percentage points since April. Eleven percent of Republicans said health care is a priority -- a new low -- while the percentage of Democrats who said the issue is a priority remained about the same at 25%. Overall, the poll finds that among registered voters, health care ranks third, behind the economy and the Iraq war, as the issue that they want presidential candidates to discuss during the campaign. In addition, the poll finds that the number of adults who reported a serious problem "paying for health care and health insurance" increased by six percentage points from one month ago and now stands at 30%.
  
  The poll is part of a broader effort by the Kaiser Family Foundation to provide a central hub for resources and information about health policy issues in the 2008 election. More information is available online at www.health08.org (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 10/1).
  
  
• "Election 2008: Still in the Game: Harnessing Employer Inventiveness in U.S. Health Care Reform," New England Journal of Medicine: In the perspective, Robert Galvin, director of global health care at General Electric and adjunct professor at Yale School of Medicine, discusses the employer-sponsored health care system and how businesses could be involved in efforts to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Galvin says that proposals should provide options for employers, address cost containment, improve quality of care, "create a performance-sensitive health system, and include substantial efforts to pay providers according to the value of their services." According to Galvin, businesses "believe that innovation is key to improvement," and will be "looking for policies that aggressively reduce waste but also encourage new approaches" (Galvin, NEJM, 10/2).