A new poll strongly suggests that Americans are repelled by the notion of making radical changes to the Medicare program--meaning providers such as hospitals won't likely have to anticipate such an adjustment in future planning--reports the Associated Press.
According to the AP-GfK poll, 54 percent said it's possible to balance the federal budget without cutting Medicare spending, while 48 percent believe both Medicare and Social Security funding could remain intact while balancing the budget. Seventy-two percent said that Medicare is "very important" to their financial security in their retirement.
"It's more a matter of bungling, and lack of oversight, and waste and fraud, and padding of the bureaucracy," said Carolyn Rodgers, a 74-year-old and resident of Tennessee."There is no reason why even Medicare, if it had been handled right, couldn't have been solvent."
The poll of 1,001 Americans was conducted by telephone between May 5-9--not long after Republican lawmakers in the House approved replacing the current Medicare program with vouchers for healthcare.
For more:
- read the Associated Press article
- read The Hill article