Who could possibly be happy with the quality of care in the United States? Almost no one. A recent Gallup poll should raise alarm bells.
The cost of health insurance is insane. Insurer restrictions on the physicians and hospitals they will cover is limited and, with deceptive provider directories, misleading. Insurer requirements for preapproval of costly procedures is burdensome. Delays in prior authorization are often harmful to people’s health. And, copays can be exorbitant.
Findings from a December 6, 2024 Gallup poll underscore the degree of American dissatisfaction with our health care system. Notwithstanding the Affordable Care Act and high levels of insurance coverage, people in the US believe that the quality of care is the worst it has been since 2001, when Gallup first began asking the question.
1. 89 percent of Americans did not consider US health care to be “excellent.”
2. One third of Americans (33 percent) consider health care quality “good;” in 2020, 43 percent said it was good.
3. Nearly four in ten Americans (38 percent) said quality is “only fair.”
4. Sixteen percent of Americans consider health care quality to be “poor.”
5. Only about half of Democrats have a positive view of health care quality. Eight percent fewer Republicans had a positive view.
6. Americans think less of health care coverage in the US than health care quality. Not even one in three Americans (28 percent) rated health care coverage as “excellent” or “good.” People polled consider health care coverage worse by four points than in 2001.
7. As for health care costs, not even two in ten Americans (19 percent) were satisfied. People polled consider health care costs worse by three points than in 2001. Nearly one in four Americans (23 percent) said costs were the top health care problem. Health care access was the second biggest (14 percent) health care problem.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- New poll confirms serious access to care concerns in Medicare Advantage
- Poll: Many more older adults delayed care because of cost in 2022
- Poll: More than forty percent of adults have medical debt
- If you want easy health care access and good quality care, you probably want traditional Medicare
- New study finds Medicare Advantage plan enrollees end up in lower quality nursing homes than people in traditional Medicare
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