A majority of adults (54 percent to 18 percent) polled agree that doctors and hospitals should be paid based on quality and results, rather than the volume of care provided. Even in Washington, D.C., Taylor noted, "there is an acceptance . . . that the traditional fee-for-service way of paying for things is a kind of toxic incentive and needs to be changed."
The poll also found that people like having a choice between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. Only small percentages would like to see the program run exclusively by the federal government (12 percent) or by private health plans (13 percent).
The online survey of 2,229 adults aged 18 and older was conducted April 5 to 9. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, geographic region and household income were weighted, where necessary, to make them representative of actual proportions in the population. Weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' likelihood to be online.
More information
The Kaiser Family Foundation has a primer on Medicare spending and financing.
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