PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Republicans and Democrats agree cost, obesity and cancer are health worries, but they disagree on access and government involvement, a U.S. survey indicates.
Gallup's Health and Healthcare poll, conducted Nov. 4-7, finds almost identical percentages of Republicans and Democrats say cost, obesity and cancer are heath concerns, but 27 percent of Democrats say access is a concern, vs. 20 percent of Republicans, and 16 percent of Republicans are worried about government involvement vs. 5 percent of the Democrats.
Gallup first asked Americans to name the most urgent health problem facing the country in 1987 and AIDS was the dominant answer. Back then, virtually no one mentioned access or costs.
In the early 1990s, increased healthcare costs became a major healthcare issue. After 2001 healthcare assess became a top issue and since then there has been a gradual rise in obesity concern.
Influenza twice became a top health issue -- once during the bird flu scare in 2005 and again during the H1N1 virus in 2009, Gallup officials say.
The survey -- based on telephone interviews of 1,021 U.S. adults living in the continental United States -- has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.