Polls in the cell phones

About 4,000 cell phone-only users will soon start receiving calls from the California Health Interview Survey, an effort being closely watched by polling experts across the country who find it difficult to reach people who don't have landlines. The biannual health study provides data on more than 42,000 of the state's roughly 12 million households and drives recommendations made to the Legislature and governor, said Sandra Shewry, director of the California Department of Health Care Services. Adding cell phones will raise the state health survey's cost by hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's in part because the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which is conducting the study, decided to pay cell phone users $25 for completing the half-hour survey to reimburse them for their air time.