Health care is weighing heavily on the minds of voters, as it's considered to be the second most important issue in the presidential election, topped only by the economy.
It's the most interest the issue has received since 1992, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers analyzed 37 national opinion polls for the study.
One in five voters said health care/Medicare was the top consideration to their voting choice. Just about half of respondents, at 51 percent, said the economy and jobs was the No. 1 issue. It's a big leap even from four years ago: In the 2008 presidential election, just 9 percent of voters said it was their top issue.
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Though reception of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is still mixed among Americans, the study also found that voters who consider health care to be the top issue in the election tend to side with President Obama over Mitt Romney on both health reform and Medicare. Almost half (41 percent) of those voters were much less likely to vote for a candidate who would repeal all or part of Obama's PPACA. Fourteen percent said they were more likely to vote for a candidate that would.
Regarding Medicare, 66 percent of voters said they opposed changing Medicare to a "premium support" system, favored by Romney, while 27 percent supported the change.
Romney gains a little more leverage on his Medicaid plan—which would change the system to a block grant program and would give states money and the opportunity to make their own decisions—with 37 percent supporting it, while 57 percent oppose it.
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