Nearly a third of health spending provides no added clinical value to patients. Half or less of what physicians do is backed up with valid scientific evidence. On average, patients get the recommended care just over half the time.

For health policy wonks, these facts are well accepted and treated as crucial components to the case for health reform. But for average Americans, many of these figures would come as a surprise according to recent polling done by the Campaign for Effective Patient Care, in conjunction with Lake Research Partners.

The findings are compiled in a report written by our colleague, Shannon Brownlee, a fellow at New America and the author of the excellent book on our health care system: Overtreated.

The poll surveyed 800 Californians who voted in the last year's election. A brief summary of the findings is available here and toplines are available here. Below are some of the highlights that caught our attention:

• 65 percent of those polled think their own care is evidence-based, but only 51 percent believe the care others receive is backed by science.
• A majority of those surveyed think both overtreatment (54 percent) and undertreatment (59 percent) are serious problems.
• 80 percent feel it is a serious problem when doctors provide unneeded medical treatment, and 80 percent are more likely to support reforms when they learn about failures of the current system.
• Nine in ten of those polled would require doctors to disclose the existence or absence of scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of treatment.
• 72 percent of California voters want heath-care reform to ensure that payment is not related simply to the number of services provided but to whether patients receive the treatments that scientific evidence indicates are best for them.

The poll confirms that American's strongly support evidence-based medicine. It is the job of lawmakers to dispel the false rhetoric of rationing and explain how health reform will deliver better care based on better science.