67 Percent of Americans Think Government Workers Get Better Health Care Benefits

The recent Reason-Rupe poll finds that when considering the quality and cost of health care for government workers compared to private sector workers, 67 percent of Americans think government workers receive better health care benefits.

Even among public sector workers, a majority (55 percent) believes they receive better health care benefits than private sector workers.

The belief that public sector workers receive better health care benefits that private sector workers is virtually unchallenged among demographics and political groups. In fact, upwards of 60 percent of each group believe government workers receive better benefits, except for: public sector workers (55 percent agree), communitarians (58 percent agree), and Latinos (59 percent agree).

 

Interestingly, neither group is statistically more likely to be satisfied with their health care. 59 percent among government workers and 57 percent of private sector workers are satisfied with their healthcare. This suggests that despite both public and private sector workers believing public sector workers receive better health care benefits, both are equally satisfied with their own health care. This raises the question: how is the perceived additional health care benefit among government workers translating into satisfaction, if satisfaction levels are statistically the same across both public and private workers. To answer this, further research will need to be conducted.

Full poll results found here.

Nationwide telephone poll conducted March 10th-20th of both mobile and landline phones, 1200 adults, margin of error +/- 3 percent. Columns may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. Full methodology can be found here. 

Emily Ekins is the director of polling for Reason Foundation where she leads the Reason-Rupe public opinion research project, launched in 2011. Follow her on Twitter @emilyekins.