Voters Rank Health Costs With Economy as Top Worry, Survey Finds

WASHINGTON - The cost of health care now rivals the economy itself as voters' top anxiety, a new national survey found — with a third of Americans saying they or a family member has skipped needed care because of cost in the past year.

The survey, by a nonpartisan health research foundation, found 47 million Americans uninsured and millions more underinsured — carrying policies with deductibles so high they avoid using them.

Health care has faded as a campaign theme since the primaries, when it dominated Democratic debates. But the poll suggests it remains near the surface: health costs were the second-most-cited economic worry after gasoline prices.

The candidates' plans differ in kind, not degree. Barack Obama would require coverage for children, expand public programs and create a national insurance exchange. John McCain would replace the tax break for employer coverage with a refundable credit to buy insurance across state lines.

"Both plans are sketches, not blueprints, and both will collide with a Congress that has buried health reform before," a health policy scholar said.

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