Abstract
Opinion surveys conducted this year indicate that nearly three of four Americans (72 to 73 percent) favor some form of a national health care program.1,2 In fact, as Figure 1 shows, support for one type of proposal — a plan financed entirely by government — is now at the highest point since World War II.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The public's enthusiasm for such a program now approximates the level of support for Medicare in the year before its enactment.11 Nevertheless, a closer examination of the survey results reveals that the public holds a number of apparently conflicting views about the preferred design of a national…