Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters nationwide say passage of the proposed health care plan could lead companies to drop private health insurance coverage for their employees. Forty-eight percent (48%) say it's very likely.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 16% say it’s unlikely that employers would seek to save money by shifting their workers to a government health insurance "public" option. But only three percent (3%) say it's not at all likely.

Under current proposals in Congress, companies that do not provide health insurance coverage for their employees would pay an eight percent (8%) fine. For many companies, that fine would be less than the cost of providing their workers with insurance.

Most voters (53%) say it would be bad for employees if they were shifted from a private insurance plan to a government option. Just 25% think it would be good while 13% say neither good nor bad.

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A plurality of Democrats (43%) say it would be good for employees if they were pushed from a private insurance plan to a government option. However, 77% of Republicans say it would be bad for employees to lose their private coverage, and 62% of unaffiliated voters share that view.

But then 67% of Democrats fear private insurance companies more than the government when it comes to health care decisions. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans and 53% of unaffiliateds fear the government more.

Still, just 25% of all voters agreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this summer when she declared that health insurance companies are "villains."

Voters are now almost evenly divided over whether passage of the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats will force them to change their existing health care coverage.

Overall, 42% of voters nationwide favor the health care plan. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed.
Among the priorities outlined by the president earlier this year, voters have consistently named deficit reduction as the top priority with health care reform second. Sixty-eight percent (68%) say that passage of the health care plan will increase the deficit.

Earlier polling showed that just 32% of voters favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone. Most Democrats favor that approach while most Republicans and unaffiliated voters are opposed.

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