Survey: Preserving access, affordability are Americans’ top health care priorities

Health care access and affordability is Americans’ top public health concern, followed by ensuring safe food and water and reducing chronic disease, according to a new survey published by Gallup and Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.  

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to list ensuring safe food and water as their top public health priority and less likely to list the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of their top three sources of trusted health information. 

However, both Democrats and Republicans support federal action on their top priority public health concerns, with 60% of Republicans and more than 75% of Democrats indicating a preference for federal leadership over state action. 

Survey respondents were asked to choose their top three public health issues from a list of 15 they thought should get the highest priority from government leaders.  

A quarter of respondents said improving health access and affordability was their top concern, 18% said ensuring safe food and water was most critical and 11% listed reducing chronic disease as most pressing. 

Nearly 3 in 10 respondents said strengthening safety-net programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and free health clinics, should be one of the nation’s top three priorities. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to list preserving safety-net programs as their top concern.  

Gallup found that few Americans listed childhood vaccination as their top public health issue, and just over 10% said it was one of their top three concerns. 

And, although the Trump administration has made restricting abortion access a priority, only 13% of respondents said preserving access to reproductive health care was among their top three public health concerns. 

Nearly a quarter of Republicans listed ensuring safe food and water as their top priority. 

The survey also polled respondents’ top sources for trusted health information. 

Across groups, respondents rated their health care providers, followed by scientific research and the CDC as their most trusted sources. However, trust varied by demographics. 

Younger adults ranked information received from scientific studies as slightly more trustworthy than information received from their doctors, while adults 65 and older ranked information received from their healthcare provider significantly more trustworthy than the CDC or academic studies. 

Democrats were also more likely to privilege information gleaned from the CDC above their provider. Republicans, meanwhile, listed their top sources of information as healthcare providers, scientific research, family and friends, and medical websites. Democrats were relatively unlikely to list friends as a trusted source for health information.