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Americans aren’t satisfied with healthcare.
Gallup’s annual Health and Healthcare poll released on December 6 found that the US adult rating of healthcare quality is the lowest it’s been since 2001, with 54% of respondents saying they believe the healthcare system has “major problems” and 16% saying it’s in a “state of crisis.” In 2001, 53% viewed healthcare positively.
By the numbers. The survey, conducted from November 6–20, which was weighted and included 1,001 people, found that just 11% of US adults rated healthcare quality as “excellent” and 33% rated it as “good.” That’s down from 2020, when 54% rated their healthcare quality as being in those two categories, according to Gallup.
This year’s ratings for health insurance are even worse. Only 28% surveyed said their coverage is excellent or good, which is four points below the average annual number since 2001.
One caveat. Despite their negative views on the country’s overall healthcare quality and coverage, most respondents rated their own care and coverage positively.
According to Gallup, 71% of respondents said the quality of their healthcare was excellent or good, and 65% said the same of their insurance—numbers that haven’t changed much since 2001.
The ‘why.’ While Gallup didn’t get into the reasons patients were dissatisfied with healthcare, Richard Frank, a senior fellow in economic studies and director of the Center on Health Policy at the nonprofit research organization Brookings, told Healthcare Brew he believes there are two main contributors: lack of access and expensive medications.
“It is extraordinarily hard to get an appointment with your doctor unless you’re joining a concierge practice,” Frank said.
A concierge practice charges an annual membership fee in return for benefits like same-day appointments and 24/7 phone access to physicians. Wealthy patients are increasingly turning to such practices, Frank said.
Over 20% of US households earning $500,000 per year pay for direct access to a physician, according to a 2020 weighted poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Additionally, “the prices of prescription drugs continue to really bother a lot of people,” Frank said.
Spending on prescription drugs, when adjusted for inflation, increased per capita from $101 in 1960 to $1,147 in 2021, according to data from KFF and nonprofit Peterson Center on Healthcare’s Health System Tracker.