From Coast to Coast: Regional Variations in the Affordability of Health Care

March 2004 From Coast to Coast: Regional Variations in the Affordability of Health Care Record growth in health care costs and increasing instability in health insurance coverage have combined to make health care a central issue in the 2004 presidential election. Nearly all the candidates who competed in the Democratic primary, as well as President Bush, proposed formal plans to expand health insurance coverage and make it more affordable.1 The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, conducted between September 2003 and January 2004, finds that majorities of Americans from each region of the country strongly support federal efforts to . . .