12-23-1997

SURVEYS AND POLLS - STORIES OF THE YEAR: MEDICARE, LATE-TERM ABORTION RANK HIGH

 
      In a poll investigating news items which caught the American
 public's eye in 1997, two of the top five most-watched policy
 issues pertained to health care reform.  Although the Pew
 Research Center found that the public's overall interest in news
 continues to drop, late-term abortion and Medicare reform both
 commanded a high level of attention this year.  According to the
 poll, in May, 53% of Americans followed the states' debates on
 restricting late-term abortions "very or fairly closely."  In
 June of this year, 51% of Americans followed the debate in
 Congress on Medicare reform "very or fairly closely."  And in
 May, 54% of Americans were following debate over the federal
 budget "very or fairly closely."  Of the top 78 stories of the
 year, several health-related stories were among those with a high
 percentage of Americans following the coverage "very closely": 
 the debate over Medicare reform (20%), the controversy over
 insurance coverage for mammograms (23%), the debate over late-
 term abortions (21%), and the use of Liggett Group documents in
 the states' lawsuits against the tobacco industry (20%) (release,
 12/22).   
 
 



American Healthline