Obama’s health plan leads McCain’s in website poll

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's health plan continues to hold a lead over the plan put forth by Republican John McCain in a survey being conducted at DiagnosticImaging.com. As of Oct. 20, the survey had received 231 votes. Obama's plan was favored by 45% and McCain's by 40%. Another 6% favored a different plan, 6% favored no plan, and 3% were undecided. The survey was posted on Oct. 7 and is scheduled to run until the Nov. 4 election. The poll is an unscientific snapshot of site visitor opinion. Though prone to sampling bias, it is structured to prevent multiple votes from individual sources. Final results will be reported at DiagnosticImaging.com. A similar survey is appearing at CancerNetwork.com, a site run by two oncology publications under the same corporate banner as Diagnostic Imaging. A separate web poll being run by Epocrates found slightly higher support for the Obama plan, 47% to McCain's 30%, with 23% of respondents answering neither. As of Oct. 20, 1179 respondents had voted. That poll started Oct. 3.

Among the highlights of the Epocrates poll are the following findings:

• Healthcare is a right: In the second presidential debate, both candidates were asked if healthcare in the U.S. is a privilege, right, or responsibility. Forty-seven percent of the respondents agree with Obama that healthcare is a right, while 35% share McCain's belief that it is a responsibility. The remaining 16% believe it is a privilege.
• Coverage is a top issue: When respondents were asked which healthcare issues they would most like to see the new president tackle, the problems of underinsured/uninsured population topped the list with 40%. Medical liability reform was second with 22%.
• Election is important: Three-fourths of the respondents feel more compelled to vote this year than in past presidential elections. In an earlier poll run at DiagnosticImaging.com, approximately three-fourths of the respondents agreed with the statement that it is very important that the next Congress and president enact substantial reforms of the healthcare system.

For more information from the Diagnostic Imaging archives:

Radiology searches for place in healthcare reform puzzleMcCain emphasizes market-driven reformCandidates poke at gorilla of health reform, but can they tame it?