Among 804 respondents to a poll published in Sunday's editions of the Courier-Journal, 31 percent said health coverage for more people was the most important issue to address in health care reform.

Medicare concerns also weighed heavily on many poll respondents. The poll indicated that 22 percent of respondents said helping people 65 and older pay for prescription drugs was the most important issue for leaders to deal with. The same percentage cited making Medicare more financially sound. Lowering malpractice premiums was rated most important by the smallest group, 10 percent.

The poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, asked how important it is for the president and Congress to deal with each of four health-care issues: increasing the number of people with health coverage, helping seniors pay for drugs, making Medicare more financially sound for future generations and lowering medical-malpractice premiums.

The number of uninsured Americans rose to 45 million last year, or 15.6 percent of the population - up from 14.2 percent in 2000.

"I see how hard it is to get (coverage), and how much it costs. If you're working for minimum wage, I can only imagine what that's doing to your income," said Tim Hendrickson, 43, a poll respondent who lives in La Grange.

Hendrickson, who is studying for a nursing degree, has coverage through his wife's employer but worries whether his children will be able to afford health care.

"If drug prices keep going up, maybe the rich will be the only people to get treatment," he said.

The poll also found that 59 percent of respondents take prescription drugs daily, with use advancing with age. Among those 65 and older, 87 percent said they do so.

The poll didn't ask people about other health-care economic issues, such as the rising cost of coverage and whether it should be legal to buy prescription drugs from Canada.

Four years ago, when George W. Bush was battling Al Gore for the presidency, health care was the most pressing issue for Kentuckians. In a Bluegrass Poll in September 2000, 20 percent said it was the most important issue that would face the new president and Congress.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the slumping economy reordered people's priorities. In this month's poll, the Iraq war was considered the most important issue by 21 percent of respondents. That was followed by terrorism or homeland security, 18 percent, and the economy, 14 percent. Health care or health insurance came next, with 11 percent saying it was most important.

In questions specific to health care, people's views reflected their own situations to some extent.

For example, 41 percent of people who lack health insurance that covers prescription drugs were more likely to view extending coverage as the top issue, compared with 29 percent of those with such insurance. And seniors were more likely to be most concerned about Medicare.

Thirty-two percent of those 65 and older said the top issue was making Medicare more financially sound, compared with only 21 percent of those younger than 65.