A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Public and Physician Attitudes Towards the Expansion of Medicare Público

Abstract

Given the recent interest in the expansion of Medicare in the United States, there is an increasing need to characterize opinions of health reform among the public and medical professionals in order to understand which social groups are more and less likely to favor expansion. The present study utilizes a two-part mixed-methods approach: the first portion of the project uses survey data from the Kaiser Family Foundation Poll: November 2017 Health Tracking Poll to determine which sociodemographic variables are most important in predicting attitudes towards Medicare expansion via a binary logistic regression analysis. The quantitative results suggest that higher socioeconomic status and Republican respondents are the most likely groups to oppose the expansion of Medicare. However, adults aged 65 and over also emerge as strong opponents of expansion. Therefore, to better understand this age effect, the second portion of this study involves in-depth interviews with physicians and medical trainees on their personal opinions of Medicare expansion and their views on why age is an important predictor of expansion. The qualitative findings indicate that medical professionals in general are supportive of a conservative expansion of Medicare and explain the age effect in terms of self-interest of those over 65. These results shed light for legislators and policy implementors on how best to design expansion and other health policy initiatives in ways that increases the political feasibility of such plans.

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………...………………………...…………………1

Literature Review………………………………………………………………….....4

Quantitative Methods……………………………………………………………….15 

Quantitative Results………………………………………………………………...18 

Qualitative Methods…………………………………………………………………22 

Qualitative Results…………………………………………………………………..23 

Discussion and Conclusion………………………………………………………..26 

References……………………………………………………………………………..34

Tables and Figures..…………………………………………………………………41

Appendix A…………………………………………………………………………...56

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Sociology, General Sociology, Demography
Palabra Clave	Physician Opinion Medicare Expansion Health Reform Medicare Public Opinion
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Ellen L. Idler, Emory University
Committee Members	Trisha M. Kesar, Emory University Jeffrey S. Mullis, Emory University

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