A new nationally representative poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines what the public took away from President Bush's State of the Union address, finding that the health messages in the speech have yet to register with most Americans.
Forty-one percent of people say they watched or listened to the speech, and the President’s emphasis on health care costs in the health portions of the speech came through to almost half of them. But almost half of those who heard the address incorrectly thought that the President talked about the implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Despite extensive news coverage before and after the speech about the President’s proposals for expanding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), the poll suggests a steep learning curve for the public on these new insurance arrangements. Seven out of 10 people (71%) say they have not heard of the term "health savings account" or do not know what the term means. When presented with three possible definitions, 38% correctly identified a description of the accounts as allowing people to set aside tax-free dollars to pay for routine health costs not covered by high-deductible insurance plans.