On the eve of the House vote that finally sent sweeping health care reform legislation to President Obama’s desk, the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) has released the results of a member survey indicating that lawmakers have been getting it wrong from Day One. For example, while almost eight in ten microbusiness owners (77.6%) said that it is very or somewhat important for our health care system to be reformed, most microbusiness owners (60% of them) disapprove of the way Congress is proposing to make those reforms. An important part of that disapproval is that 74.2% of them do not feel that lawmakers took microbusiness concerns into account when drafting legislation (more research finding that microbusiness owners believe policy makers generally ignore their issues and concerns). Perhaps the most interesting set of questions in this survey had to do with priorities. NASE researchers asked respondents what was most and least important to them in health care reform.

The top policy objective for health care reform among microbusiness respondents was lowering costs and cost containment (42%), followed reforming the market to keep individuals from being denied coverage due to health status or age (24%) and increasing choice in health plans and benefits options (16.4%). Interestingly, that third-place policy objective was also the top response for least important policy objective among microbusiness owners (32.4%). Also at the top of the list were covering the uninsured (29.3%) and improving health care delivery systems for better outcomes (25.4%). Among those who oppose the plan, 58% said the government would be too involved in health care and another 23% expressed concern about the cost of the plan and the federal budget deficit; researchers did not ask proponents any questions about their main reason for supporting the reform proposal.