A week before Congress must pass a budget resolution partially focused on healthcare, the public perception of the financial state of Medicare contrasts significantly with the perception of policy experts, according to a study conducted by the Harvard Opinion Research Program.

While the public-at-large is predominantly opposed to any cuts in the Medicare program, experts maintain that reducing spending is crucial to balancing the federal budget, the report says.

“They don’t think Medicare spending is a big issue when considering the federal deficit,” said Robert J. Blendon, one of the report’s co-authors and a health policy professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. “They don’t favor a lot of the ideas that the academics believe.”

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine only weeks before Congress must pass a budget resolution, the study suggests that the gap between the public’s and experts’ views may have ramifications for lawmakers seeking a compromise.

The report, entitled “The Public and the Conflict Over Future Medicare Spending”, analyzed the results of six public opinion polls conducted in 2013 and compared the data with recent published reports on Medicare.

“Opinion polls express the level of understanding among the public, said Mary Ruggie, a public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. “Right now there is so much confusion and plain concern and fear.”

In light of their analysis, the authors concluded that the majority of the public lacks an elementary understanding of the function and role of Medicare.

“One of the prevalent misconceptions is that most people think that Medicare works the way social security does, that you pay during your working career and a premium thereafter so you’ve paid your dues,” said John M. Benson, the report’s other author and managing director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. “But the case is that people get far more benefits that they paid for”.

In addition to their findings on expert and public opinion, the authors said that Congressional candidates who favor major cuts in the program may face negative electoral backlash.

The report also says that the public is generally in favor of improving the program. In discussions of how to strengthen Medicare for future generations, Ruggie said the public should take more than just costs into account.

“One important thing to remember is that economists aren’t trying to cut spending,” Ruggie said. “They are trying to make Medicare more efficient”.

—Staff writer Fatima N. Mirza can be reached at fatima.mirza@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @fatimanmirza.