NH Residents Support Addiction Treatment
Poll finds New Hampshire residents willing to pay more
in health care premiums to increase access to addiction treatment
CONCORD, NH – (September 23, 2009) – A new public opinion poll of New Hampshire residents shows surprisingly broad support for increasing access to alcohol and drug addiction treatment. Seventy-six percent of New Hampshire residents support including addiction treatment in health care reform, and sixty eight percent said they are willing to pay $2 more each month in health care premiums to make it more affordable and accessible.
The New Hampshire poll was conducted on behalf of New Futures’ Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG) initiative. New Futures is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization working to reduce under-age alcohol problems and increase access to treatment. It is one of nine sites around the United States selected to participate in the CATG Initiative
“New Hampshire residents recognize that addiction can be a life or death health issue,” said Maria Gagnon of New Futures “We know that treatment works. There are people who are seeking treatment now who can’t get it because the system is overloaded and unable to serve them, their insurance won’t pay for it or they can’t afford it. We have to do more to close that gap.”
A parallel national poll also conducted by CATG found that more than three-quarters of Americans (77 percent) support including addiction treatment in health reform, 56 percent describe their support as strong.
“This is about improving the health of individuals and families,” said Yvonne Goldsberry, senior director of community health at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene. “It’s clear from the polling data that the public believes what professionals know, treatment works.”
Support for including addiction treatment in health care reform is strong and non-partisan. Sixty-three percent of N.H. Republicans, 92 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Independents support including addiction treatment in health care reform.
Seventy-eight percent of those polled in the Granite State also believe that treatment is effective in helping people get better, including 76 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Independents and 82 percent of Republicans.
Other key information from the poll included the following:
- 72 percent of people in New Hampshire have suffered from or know someone who has suffered from alcohol or drug addiction (6 percent themselves, 38 percent someone in their family, 21 percent close friend, and 22 percent someone else).
- 72 percent of people think alcohol and drug addiction is a serious or moderate problem in N.H.
- 75 percent of people in N.H. believe that addiction should be treated as a chronic health condition, just like diabetes, hypertension and similar diseases.
New Futures’ Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG) initiative is jointly funded by the Open Society Institute and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. New Hampshire’s treatment gap is vast in that approximately 100,000 residents meet criteria for a substance use disorder, yet our public treatment system can serve only about 6,000 in a given year.
Conducted by Lake Research Partners from August 6- August 12, 2009, the phone survey interviewed 400 adults 18 and older in New Hampshire, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.