Another year, another poll, another reason to address health reform with a renewed sense of urgency and commitment.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's first health tracking poll of 2009 shows Americans' support for health reform is strong, while their concerns and expectations have grown. As we'll see in a moment, the poll also found that many Americans are worried about paying for their health care, or already cutting back because of the economic crisis. 

Roughly six-in-10 Americans (62 percent) believe that "given the serious economic problems facing the country it is more important than ever to take on health reform now." That finding has remained consistent in recent polls, as has the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans on the need to address health reform. See chart below

The poll also looked at how health care costs in the economic crisis are affecting American families. More than half of all respondents (53 percent) said their households cut back on health care in the past 12 months because of costs concerns. More than a quarter (27 percent) "put off or postponed getting health care [they] needed."

When asked to explain what health reform means in their own words, 40 percent gave a response having to do with health care costs and 39 percent gave a response having to do with expanding coverage. One-in-ten (9 percent) defined health reform in terms of quality.

Concerns over health care are at their highest levels since 2006, with 45 percent of respondents saying they are very worried about paying for health care or health insurance. One-third of households with coverage are worried they will lose it.

And while concerns are high, expectations may be higher. A majority of Americans (58 percent) believe that with the right policy decisions health care reform can be accomplished without spending more money. Even more (72 percent) trust President Obama to do the right thing for health care reform.

With his focus on health reform this week, and in particularly in last night's address to Congress, President Obama has done little to diminish those expectations. Nor should he. As the president said, "Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."