Ed note: Watch for an analysis of the U.S. presidential candidates' healthcare positions in the September 2008 issue of DOTmed Business News.

According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, commissioned by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, more than 80 percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system needs either fundamental change or a complete overhaul including access to care, better coordination between different healthcare providers and better flow of health information.

Both major presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, have pledged to address problems with the U.S. health system, which leaves 47 million Americans without any health insurance.
The poll surveyed a random sample of 1,004 U.S. adults and showed that 32 percent agreed the system needed complete rebuilding, while 50 percent thought it required fundamental change.

These views were similar regardless of income and insurance status, with 81 percent of those who were insured for the prior year and 89 percent who were uninsured during the prior year calling for either fundamental change or complete rebuilding.

Overall, 16 percent of adults said the health care system works relatively well and needed only minor reform.

Most said health insurance needs to be simplified, and nine out of ten said they supported the wider use of health information systems that could improve coordination between health providers.

The Commonwealth Fund also released findings suggesting ways to improve the U.S. health system, recommending rewarding healthcare providers for high quality care, and offering patients incentives for seeking out providers that offer the best and most efficient care.

Inefficiencies and rising costs have resulted in a 100 percent increase in health premiums for private sector employers and their workers in just over a decade, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality -- part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Its national survey found the average premium for a family insurance plan rose to $11,381 in 2006, from $4,954 in 1996, while the average cost for a single premium rose to $4,118 from $1,992.

Employers paid for most of the increases, but employees saw their share rise as well, climbing to an average of $2,890 for family coverage in 2006 from $1,275 in 1996, and an average of $788 per year for single coverage, up from $342.

Americans spend double what people in other industrialized countries do on healthcare, but often have more trouble seeing doctors, are the victims of more errors and go without treatment more often.

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