Public Health Insurance Consumers as Happy with Coverage as Private

March 2, 2017

A new poll shows that public health insurance customers are just as pleased with their coverage as private health insurance consumers are. A Gallup analysis shows that 74% of individuals with Medicare and Medicaid coverage are happy with their plans, compared to 75% of those who have private insurance plans. These results are based on interviews with over 3000 American adults, 1753 of which had private insurance and 1049 with a public, government health plan.

Over 80% of Americans have rated the quality of their plans as either “excellent” or “good” – whether they are private or public. There is only a slight gap between the two, as 87% of private consumers receive “excellent” service compared to the 82% of public health insurance consumers who feel the same way.

A pattern has emerged since 2003, as the past 6 years have seen similar rates in customer satisfaction for both private and public insurance. 70% of all health insurance consumers have rated their plans in positive terms and 80% would rate the quality of their care as “excellent” or “good”.

These results have been published at a crucial time, considering that the American government has yet to make a decision concerning whether or not to offer “public option” insurance plans as part of the health insurance reform. The topic is one that has been debated a great deal in recent weeks, and the customer satisfaction rates of public insurance seems to be the push towards a public option that the government may need.