Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters nationwide say that passing no health care reform bill this year would be better than passing the plan currently working its way through Congress.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% disagree and say the current effort is better than doing nothing.

For advocates of reform, this is a bit of an improvement. In August, 54% said doing nothing was the better approach.

Democrats strongly prefer to pass the congressional legislation while Republican voters overwhelmingly say it’s better to do nothing. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 62% say it would be better to do nothing rather than pass the current plan. Full demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members.

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The new survey also shows that voters are skeptical that anything will be able to reduce the amount we spend on health care. If the cost of health care services comes down, 42% believe consumers will simply buy more services. Just 31% say reducing the cost of service would actually lead to less spending on health care. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure.

Cost, not universal coverage, is the top priority for most voters, and 54% favor middle class tax cuts over new spending on health care.

These results come at a time when most voters say our health care system needs major changes, but only 42% favor the plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.

Rasmussen Reports is tracking support for the health care proposal on a weekly basis and will have updated results on Monday morning.

But then 65% of voters say the health care reform plan that emerges from Congress will be mostly what Democrats want. Just 18% of voters disagree and think the plan will be a bipartisan effort.

Sixty-six percent (66%) say free market competition between insurance companies will do more than government regulation to reduce health care costs.

A congressional consensus on health care reform was reported earlier this year, but it received mixed reviews from the public. The consensus hasn’t changed over the past several months, and neither have the views of voters. One reason is skepticism about Congress itself. By a two-to-one margin, voters believe that no matter how bad things are Congress could always make it worse.

Voters also still believe strongly that they understand the overall health care reform proposal better than Congress does.

One reason that Democrats have been careful to distinguish between their reform plan and a single-payer system is that just 32% favor single-payer health care while 57% are opposed.

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