About Healthcare Costs

About six in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned.

AB: I wonder why the concerned six in 10 stat is so low. Healthcare and healthcare insurance is not cheap. Furthermore, the costs keep rising at rates higher than inflation. At what point does Congress start to think about Medicare for All or a centralized plan which will consider the resources necessary and improved efficiency?

What Americans Think About Rising Healthcare Costs. According to a New AP-NORC Poll, MedPage Today

Most U.S. adults are worried about healthcare becoming more expensive, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.

About six in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their health costs going up in the next year, the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds — a worry that extends across age groups and includes people with and without health insurance.

Many Americans have other healthcare anxieties, too. The poll found that about four in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about not being able to pay for healthcare or medications they need, not being able to access healthcare when they need it, or losing or not having health insurance.

Medicare beneficiaries are already shopping for next year’s coverage, and open enrollment periods for many other health plans are approaching quickly in November. Federal policies have left millions of people at risk of skyrocketing health insurance premiums or of losing their health insurance altogether. The findings show that many Americans are feeling vulnerable to spiking healthcare costs, with some expressing concerns about whether they’ll have coverage at all.

Latoya Wilson, an independent nurse consultant in Lafayette, Louisiana, currently uses a health insurance plan from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. But in the past 2 weeks, the 46-year-old has applied for more jobs than she had previously in her life, largely because she’s concerned about her premiums going up and wants the stability of employer-sponsored insurance.

“Even before these healthcare cuts came into play, I was already having a significant issue getting the care that I needed this year,” she said. “Anything worse than what I already have is pretty scary.”

Healthcare Remains Important to Americans When It’s Center Stage in Washington

About eight in 10 U.S. adults say the issue of healthcare is “extremely” or “very” important to them personally. That includes about nine in 10 Democrats and three-quarters of Republicans, and it puts healthcare next to the economy among Americans’ top issue priorities.

That significant attention on the issue raises the political stakes in what’s already been a crucial moment for federal health policy in the nation’s capital.

President Donald Trump’s mega-bill passed this summer cuts more than $1 trillion from federal healthcare and food assistance over a decade, largely by imposing work requirements on those receiving aid and by shifting certain federal costs onto the states. Republicans say the cuts will prevent people who don’t need aid from gaming the system, but the cuts will ultimately result in millions of people losing health insurance coverage, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

More urgently, a congressional deadlock over ACA subsidies that expire this year has thrown the federal government into a shutdown that’s dragged into a fourth straight week with no end in sight. Democratic lawmakers want any funding bill they sign to extend the subsidies, which have made ACA premiums less expensive for millions of people. Republicans in Congress have expressed willingness to negotiate on the issue, but only after the government is reopened.

In interviews, some Americans said they doubted government leaders would take the necessary action to address their concerns on healthcare.

“It is the federal government’s job to provide a better way of life for its people,” said Caleb Richter, a 30-year-old certified nursing assistant in Belleville, Wisconsin, who identifies as an independent. “Right now, it just feels like they’re not trying.”

But the poll reveals a deep ideological divide over what the government’s role should be, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to say it’s the federal government’s job to make sure all Americans have health coverage. About eight in 10 Democrats say this, compared with about one-third of Republicans.

Most U.S. Adults Disapprove of Trump’s Handling of Healthcare, Poll Finds

Healthcare continues to be a weakness for Trump. Only about three in 10 U.S. adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of healthcare, which hasn’t changed meaningfully since September. Almost all Democrats disapprove of his approach, but so do about eight in 10 independents and about one-third of Republicans.

Wilson, a Democrat, said she thinks Trump should be “doing things that affect the good of the group” when it comes to healthcare, including catering more to working-class Americans.

But Michelle Truszkowski, a disabled veteran in Sterling Heights, Michigan, who is politically conservative, said she appreciates how Trump is focused on cutting fraud and abuse in the healthcare system.

“I like that people who shouldn’t be getting benefits from the government are getting kicked off of them,” the 48-year-old said. “Healthcare is not a right. It’s a privilege.”

Democrats Trusted More Than Republicans on Healthcare, but Many Trust Neither

About four in 10 U.S. adults say they trust the Democrats to do a better job handling healthcare, compared with about one-quarter who trust the Republicans more. About one-quarter trust neither party, and about one in 10 trust both equally.

Americans are more likely to trust their own party on healthcare, generally speaking, but 76% of Democrats trust their party more on healthcare, while only 57% of Republicans have more trust in theirs.

Independents are especially likely to trust neither party on healthcare — about half of independents say this. But the remaining independents are more likely to trust the Democrats.

Richter, in Wisconsin, said he wishes Congress would put more faith and funding into hospital staffers who know how to help patients. He said he’d be fine with paying higher taxes if it meant ensuring healthcare for people who need it.

But instead of working toward solutions, he said, federal lawmakers are acting “like a bunch of high school kids arguing.”

“My faith that something will get done is very, very low at this point,” Richter said. “It just feels like they don’t really care.”