MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT: Women Reject Government Takeover of Healthcare System     11/2/2009

Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America
Phyllis Schlafly, Founder & President, Eagle Forum
Michelle Bernard, President & CEO, Independent Women's Voice
Connie Mackey, President, Family Research Council Action PAC
Michelle Easton, President, Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute
Sally Pipes, President & CEO, Pacific Research Institute
Bay Buchanan, President, American Cause
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List
Susan Carleson, Chairman & CEO, American Civil Rights Union
Elaine Donnelly, President, Center for Military Readiness
Barbara Kenney, Board Member, Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute
Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director, Students for Life of America
Becky Norton Dunlop, President, Council for National Policy
Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director, Traditional Values Coalition
Beverly Gossage, Founder & Director, HSA Benefits Consulting
Cathy Ruse, Senior Fellow for Legal Studies, Family Research Council

MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT:

Women Reject Government Takeover of Healthcare and the "Public Option"

RE: Women have largely been excluded from the healthcare discussion in a meaningful way. A new poll just released by the Independent Women's Forum indicates that women voters largely enjoy their own healthcare coverage, do not believe government is the solution and reject a so called "public option."

(The poll-conducted by WomenTrend, a division of The Polling Company--and the executive summary can be found at www.iwf.org.)

ACTION: The Obama administration and Congress should not move forward on any healthcare legislation that imposes more government on the daily lives of Americans and particularly the opinions of women who have been ignored in the Congressional legislation. We urge you to call your Congressman and Senators and remind them that important topics such as healthcare choice, healthcare privacy, and healthcare costs should not be neglected.

ISSUE-IN-BRIEF:

• Women account for 2 of every 3 dollars spent on healthcare, and are 14% more likely than men to take prescription medicine regularly and 90% of them visit a doctor at least once a year. Moreover, most women make the chief healthcare decisions for their families.
• By a margin of 64%-27%, women would "rather have private health insurance than a government-run health insurance plan.
• 57% disagree that "a federally run healthcare program is what is best for my family and me.
• 56% disagree that "women like me would be best served by a government-run healthcare plan.
• 54% would not personally trade in their coverage for a public plan.
• 51% of women are unsatisfied with what they have read, seen, or heard about the proposals or legislation to reform healthcare coverage.
• Most would prefer that any expanded involvement exclude them personally.
• Majorities of women voters in all age, regional, and educational attainment cohorts believe the private sector to be superior when it comes to providing choice in healthcare. Pluralities of self-identified Democrats (45%) and liberals (49%) agree, as well as majorities of self-identified Independents (64%), Republicans (81%), moderates (54%), and conservatives (74%).
• 67% would be less likely to support a candidate, and 19% more likely to support a candidate, who favors moving people from their private healthcare plans to a government-run or public option healthcare plans.
• Women also want choice with respect to how their tax dollars are spent: 67% of women do not want public funding of abortion; including 55% of self-identified Democrats.

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