Americans’ Outlook On US Healthcare System Plummets To 24-Year Low, Survey Reveals

Americans’ outlook of the quality of healthcare in the U.S. has fallen to a 24-year low, according to a Gallup survey published on Friday.

The survey shows that 44% of Americans said the quality of U.S. healthcare is “excellent” or “good,” which represents a 10% drop from 2020, according to Gallup. Of those surveyed, 38% said the nation’s healthcare quality was “fair” and 16% said it was “poor.”

Americans rated U.S. healthcare coverage more negatively than they rated health care quality, according to Gallup. Only 28% of respondents said healthcare coverage is excellent or good, which is four percentage points lower than the average since 2001, according to the survey.

President-elect Donald Trump made an announcement on Nov. 14 nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump and Kennedy have vowed to “Make America Healthy Again,” and have pledged to address various health-related issues, including getting Americans to up their intake of healthier foods and address obesity in adults. Kennedy has also called for America to reduce high levels of fluoride in its drinking water supply.

Healthcare spending in the U.S. increased by 4.1% in 2022, reaching $4.5 trillion, or $13,493 per person, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Health spending accounted for 17.3% of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2022, according to the CMS. The U.S. has the highest healthcare costs per capita compared to similar countries, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Results for the Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 6-20, 2024, with a random sample of 1,001 adults, and the margin of error is 4 percentage points.