Record numbers of Americans have “soured” on the quality of health care and their own medical coverage, Gallup reported in a poll Thursday.
Only 48% of adults responding to the annual poll rated health care as “good” or “excellent.” That marks the first time since the polling company began surveying the issue in 2001 that fewer than half of Americans rated the nation’s medical coverage positively.
Another 31% described health care as “only fair,” and a new low of 21% called it “poor,” the poll found.
“A key reason views of U.S. healthcare quality have been trending downward in recent years is that Republicans’ positive ratings have been subdued since President Donald Trump left office,” Gallup said.
Satisfaction with health care has trended downward for unclear reasons among adults younger than 55 since 2012, Gallup noted.
“The more recent declines among young adults may reflect changes to healthcare that have taken place amid the COVID-19 pandemic or curtailed access to abortion since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision,” Gallup said.
According to Gallup, an average of 55% of adults have rated health care as “excellent” or “good” since 2001. The high, 62%, occurred in 2010 and in 2012.
Among Republicans, the percentage giving positive ratings to the nation’s medical care slid from 69% in 2020 to 55% in the latest poll. Positive ratings among Democrats held “steady at a lower level” over the same period, reaching 44% in the most recent survey.
The poll also found 72% of Americans rated their personal medical care as “excellent” or “good,” down from 82% in 2020 and a new low in the two-decade trend.
Gallup conducted the randomized national telephone survey of 1,020 adults from Nov. 9-Dec. 2. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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