"It also reflects a societal decisionthe societal decision to provide health care for everyone," Altman said of the other countries.

He said Americans' response to the question specifically about health care is reflective of their overall views about government.

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"We've always had, as a country, a love-hate relationship with government," Altman said. "We want the services it delivers, but we want a smaller government. There's a tension in this country between the sense of communal obligation and a fierce sense of personal responsibility."

"And where do you see that tension expressed more strongly than in health care?" asked Altman.

Altman said he believes that the passage and the adoption in recent years of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, has accentuated the split between Americans who favor a larger role for government overall and those who oppose that idea. He also said public opinion on the ACA is often not based on actual details of the law, which often poll well individually, but reflect how people view President Obama and government generally.

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"The debate about Obamacare isn't a debate about Obamacare," he said. "The health law has become a proxy for a larger debate about, yes, the president, but also about the role of government."

The Penn Schoen Berland poll, which did not ask about Obamacare by name, found a distinct split between Democrats and Republicans on the question of who should provide health insurance. Just 17 percent of self-identified Republicans in the survey said they believed government should provide such coverage. But 57 percent of Democrats gave that answer.

Conversely, only 17 percent of Democrats said individuals should be responsible for their health insurance. But 42 percent of Republicans gave that answer.

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US disagrees with world on who pays for health care