Open Wide and Say `Ugh’
Women are down on docs, according to the 1999 Health Confidence Survey (HCS), which measures public attitudes on healthcare. The annual report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that women – generally the primary healthcare decision-makers in the household – are less satisfied and less confident than men about the country’s healthcare system. Sixty-one percent of women, versus 45 percent of men, say the healthcare system in America needs a major overhaul. Only 36 percent of women are confident that hospitals deliver quality medical care, compared with 49 percent of men. Eighty-three percent (versus 76 percent of men) say healthcare costs have gotten worse and want the federal government to do something about it. Roughly 77 percent of women and 68 percent of men favor using the federal budget surplus to pay Medicare costs.
