Most respondents to an online poll released on Tuesday by the AFL-CIO believe that the health care system requires major changes, regardless of whether they have health insurance, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The survey, commissioned by AFL-CIO and affiliate Working America and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates between Jan. 14 and March 3, included responses from more than 26,400 U.S. residents who completed an online questionnaire after being recruited to do so (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/26). Most survey respondents had jobs, college degrees and health insurance (Knowles, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/26). Union members accounted for 57% of survey respondents.

According to the survey, 95% of respondents said that "health care in America needs fundamental change or to be completely rebuilt" (Young, The Hill, 3/25).

Finding Health Insurance if You Are Self-Employed

If there is one thing that separates the self-employed from those employed by others, it is their preoccupation with health insurance.

I was reminded of this on Feb. 14, when I wrote a post on the Shifting Careers blog asking small-business owners and would-be entrepreneurs what they were doing about health insurance. Within hours, scores of people posted comments about their own experiences and, if they had managed to find good resources, shared those. I have been reading e-mail messages and trying to make sense of the subject ever since. In short, it is not pretty out there.

.