Insider Survey Shows Strong Support For PeachCare, Reveals Attitudes About Other Health Issues

(2/9/07) InsiderAdvantage / Majority Opinion surveys conducted within the past ten days for subscribers to our polling service offer a look at how Georgians feel about health care issues pending before the 2007 legislative session. Here is a sample of what we found:

In a survey of 400 Georgians conducted last week (margin of error plus or minus 5 percent), 60 percent of respondents put PeachCare at the top of the list of spending issues they want to see the Legislature tackle. No other budgetary issue received even a statistically significant level of support. The huge level of interest in PeachCare is likely stoked by the attention the issue has received from the press and by Gov. Sonny Perdue’s appearance before Congress.

50 percent of all Georgians said they favored “legislation which would make it easier for surgeons and other specialists to perform certain procedures in their office or at a facility outside of a hospital.” Republicans supported the proposal by 68 percent. Only 30 percent opposed the proposal, with most of the opposition coming from those who described themselves as Democrats. The rest were undecided.

61 percent of all respondents said they favor legislation which “would allow doctors of optometry to prescribe certain antibiotics and other necessary drugs to patients.” Republicans favored the proposed measure by over 72 percent with Democrats supporting it at 57 percent. Independents favored it by a margin of 46 percent to 23 percent, with remaining independents saying they were undecided.

The full InsiderAdvantage Health Care poll has a wealth of additional information and is available by special subscription. We poll every night during the legislative session on a wide range of topics. To join the top legislative and business leaders who already subscribe to this service, contact Jimmy Meehan at jmeehan@insideradvantage.com or by phone at 404-233-3710.