Healthcare reform = People more confident

PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The healthcare reform momentum in the U.S. Congress has Americans more confident of access to healthcare and being able to afford it, an index says.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Care Consumer Confidence Index rose to 104.4 points, up from 96.6 in September, reflecting the most confidence American consumers have had in healthcare since tracking began last April.

In October, fewer than one in four Americans were concerned about losing their health insurance, a drop from the previous month, when one in three Americans expressed concern about losing health coverage. Additionally, the percentage of Americans who said they were worried that they would not be able to afford future health care needs dropped from 53.2 percent to 43.4 percent.

"During a month when there was considerable momentum around health reform including the passage of a reform bill by the Senate Finance Committee, the American public appears to be more confident about the future of their healthcare," Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in a statement.

"Americans of every ideology know that our healthcare system needs to be fixed and want some type of reform."

The index is created from data collected by the Surveys of Consumers, with analysis provided by the University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center.