A plurality of physicians strongly support a single payer healthcare system according to a new survey by Merritt Hawkins, the nation’s leading physician search firm and a company of AMN Healthcare (NYSE: AMN).
The survey of 1,033 physicians indicates that 42 percent strongly support a single payer health care system while 14 percent are somewhat supportive. Over one-third (35 percent) strongly oppose a single payer system while six percent are somewhat against it. The remaining three percent neither support nor oppose single payer.
The results contrast with a national survey of physicians Merritt Hawkins conducted in 2008, which indicated that 58 percent of physicians opposed single payer at that time while 42 percent supported it.
“Physicians appear to have evolved on single payer,” said Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins. “Whether they are enthusiastic about it, are merely resigned to it or are just seeking clarity, single payer is a concept many physicians appear to be embracing.”
The survey was sent by email to 70,000 physicians nationwide and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent, according to experts in statistical response analysis at the University of Tennessee.
Merritt Hawkins is the leading physician and advanced practitioner search and consulting firm in the United States and is a company of AMN Healthcare (amnhealthcare.com) the nation’s largest healthcare workforce solutions company.
