When it comes to health care, most Americans are deeply dissatisfied with it and hope the presidential campaign will make something positive in this sense, a survey by the non-profit Commonwealth Fund, a charitable group promoting health care reform, showed.

The survey was titled Views on US Health Care System Organization: A Call for New Directions.

After interviewing 1,004 adults, the agency found that 82 percent of them believe that the US health care system is in need of a complete overhaul. The participants had different income levels and belonged to different health insurance programs.

“It’s clear that our health care system isn’t giving Americans the health care they need and deserve. The disorganization and inefficiency are affecting Americans in their everyday lives, and it’s most obvious that people are looking for reform,” said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund.

Moreover, 90 percent of those responding stated that the 2008 presidential candidate (either Sen. John McCain or Barrack Obama) needs to have health care reform as a top issue.

“About nine of 10 adults say it is important for presidential candidates to have reform proposals that would improve the quality of care (90 percent), ensure care and insurance are affordable (93 percent), and decrease the number of uninsured (88 percent). In fact, a majority think these policy priorities are very important,” the survey read.

About 47 million Americans do not have insurance, a problem that needs to be addressed right away, as the lack of insurance prevents people from seeking proper medical help. This further leads to not diagnosing serious conditions in proper time, which reduces these people’s survival chances.

Most of the participants said they are unsatisfied with the present health care system because it is not well organized and not well coordinated. People complained about their records not being available when they showed up to the doctor’s office, about not being informed on test results and about having to make several calls to get results.

Also, people were dissatisfied with doctor-nurse communication, complaining about the fact that details were not always discussed between the two of them. This often led to incidents that would have been prevented if information were discussed properly.

Many of the respondents complained about having to repeat tests or do unnecessary treatments because of the doctors’ incompetence. They also believed that doctors should use computerized medical records, access test results electronically and share results with other doctors electronically. More than half of respondents said they would be more than happy if they had the possibility to communicate with their physician or to schedule appointments via Internet.

A previous study showed that only 23 percent of primary care physicians use electronic medical records.

“Strong public support for the use of health information technology stands in stark contrast to actual practice in the United States,” the researchers said.