Irving-based Merritt Hawkins, a physician search firm, has released a survey stating “a plurality of physicians strongly support a single-payer healthcare system.”
Of 1,033 physicians who responded to the survey, 42 percent showed strong support for a single-payer healthcare system, while 14 percent were somewhat supportive. Meantime 35 percent were opposed to a single-payer system, while six percent were somewhat against it. The remaining three percent were indifferent.
A statistical response analysis at the University of Tennessee showed the email was sent to 70,000 physicians across the U.S. and possessed a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
According to Merritt Hawkins, a subsidiary of California healthcare staffing company AMN Healthcare, the results contrasted to national survey results from 2008, which initially indicated “58 percent of physicians opposed single payer at that time, while 42 percent supported it.”
Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins, said in a statement: “Physicians appear to have evolved on single-payer. 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.”
