US Polls: Growing fear on health care overhaul

A new US poll shows that fears over Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul plan have increased significantly among most Americans.

The poll by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a non-partisan group, has found that in December, 33-percent of Americans said they believe their access to healthcare will get worse if an overhaul occurs.

That figure is a significant leap from the 25-percent figure from a similar poll in the previous month. More than 30-percent said their personal finances will suffer under a new system.

Some 35 percent of the respondents said the country’s access to health care would be worse under a health care overhaul, compared to a 30-percent figure last month. Around 38 percent of the participants in the poll said it would be better, about the same as last month.

President Obama’s planned overhaul of the heath care system in the US was cast into doubt last week when a Republican candidate won in the Massachusetts special senate race, robbing the Democrats of their absolute majority in the chamber.