Plurality of Americans Think Sky-High Premium Costs are US Healthcare System’s Biggest Problem, Poll Shows
Many Americans think unaffordable health insurance premium costs are currently the U.S. healthcare system’s biggest problem, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey released Thursday.
The survey suggests that 42% of respondents think the top healthcare issue that needs to be “solved or meaningfully improved” is the high cost of premiums for health insurance, while 36% said the costs associated with medical care or filling prescriptions. Meanwhile, 15% said the most pressing issue is getting approval for medical care or prescription medications from insurers, compared to 7% who said finding a doctor or getting an appointment with a healthcare provider.
Among U.S. adults age 19 and up who selected each of the affordability concerns as the issue of utmost importance, half said the federal government was best suited to address surging insurance premium costs. Meanwhile, four out of 10 respondents said the government would do the best at tackling high out-of-pocket healthcare costs, according to the survey.
The majority of Democrats — 65% — believe the federal government would be best at addressing healthcare cost issues in the U.S., per the poll. Thirty-six percent of Republicans also said the federal government would be best suited to solve cost-related problems, while independent voters were more likely to select the federal government (49%) than health insurance companies (28%).
The survey’s results come as Americans are facing a growing healthcare affordability crisis. The estimated cost of health premiums for a benchmark plan is $625 this year on average, HealthMarkets Insurance reported, citing KFF data.
Additionally, insurers in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace are now proposing a median premium hike of 14% in 2027, per a KFF analysis published in July.
“Nearly 15 years ago, the Democrats’ Unaffordable Care Act broke the American healthcare system,” House Speaker Mike Johnson asserted in a Dec. 12, 2025 statement. “Since its inception, premium costs have skyrocketed, networks have shrunk, and the system has become bloated, inefficient, and riddled with waste, fraud and abuse.”
The Commonwealth Fund conducted the national survey with the SSRS Opinion Panel Mega-Omnibus from May 4 to May 26, among a sample of 25,873 U.S. adults. The Commonwealth Fund’s Wednesday blog post focuses on 25,858 respondents aged 19 and up.
The survey’s overall maximum margin of sampling error for total respondents is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, and the survey’s completion rate was 55.1%.
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