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LANSING, Mich. - About 57 percent of voters likely would support requiring public employees, including teachers, to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums, according to a recent poll, the Michigan Information & Research Service Inc., reported today.
The same poll showed that voters were divided — 47 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed — on the idea of cutting public employee salaries by 5 percent, MIRS reported.
The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted by the Lansing-based firm EPIC/MRA from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25, MIRS reported. It had a plus-or-minus margin of error of 4 percent.
When asked how to balance the state budget, 28 percent of respondents favored cutting existing programs and services without any increase in state taxes or fees, while 9 percent favored raising taxes and fees enough to cover the budget deficit without any program or service reductions, MIRS reported. The remainder favored some combination of cuts and tax hikes.
SOURCE:
Michigan Information & Research Service Inc.,
"Poll: 'Make
Public Employees Pay Bigger Healthcare Share,'" March 2, 2010
(Subscription required)
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Most School Health Plans Are Too
Expensive for Michigan," Feb. 10, 2010
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