For Immediate Release: MAY 5, 2025

Contact: Jack Cardinal, jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org 

Polling Commissioned by Community Catalyst Finds Most Voters in Favor of Major Changes In Health Care

BOSTON, MA – New polling from Community Catalyst done by HIT Strategies, the leading millennial and minority-owned public opinion research firm, found that health care affordability is a significant and growing concern for voters, and now ranks among the top tier of concerns for voters along with the economy and the cost of living. The polling also found that voters want major changes to the health care system and support an increased role for the government in ensuring affordability and accessibility. 

You can see the full deck from HIT Strategies on the polling here. 

Key Insights:
  • Health care affordability is a significant and growing concern for Americans across political affiliations, ranking as a top priority alongside the economy and cost of living. While cost of living and the economy are currently top-of-mind (60% and 56% respectively), 42% of respondents identified healthcare as a primary concern, an increase from the previous year. When considering which issues Congress should prioritize, lowering health care costs was among the top responses (28%) and had the least partisan division when thinking about easing personal living expenses. Over half of those surveyed (54%) report struggling to afford health insurance and other health care-related expenses, a problem particularly pronounced in states without Medicaid expansion (59% report struggling).
  • Voters across the political spectrum want to see major changes in the health care system, emphasizing the desire among voters for bipartisan action. Voters want to see substantial change in the health care system (73% say it needs major change or to be completely rebuilt). This includes 75% of self-identified Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 67% of Republicans. This finding highlights the need to offer bipartisan solutions that push major change in the health care system forward, an issue of concern across all political ideologies. Additionally, voters overwhelmingly prefer to view health care as a public good (73%) rather than a business that is maintained through supply and demand.
  • Voters overwhelmingly support a greater role for the government in regulating and managing health care, particularly in reducing costs and ensuring universal access. A substantial 73% of voters (75% Democrats, 80% Independents, 67% Republicans) believe that the health care system needs significant change or a complete rebuild. 78% of respondents advocate for a greater government role in lowering costs, a view popular across party lines (Democrats 89%, Independents 73%, Republicans 68%). A similarly large majority (73%) prefers treating health care as a public good, emphasizing care for all over profit. A majority of respondents expressed distrust in health insurance companies (63% distrust) and hospitals (54% distrust) to keep prices fair on their own. There is strong support for government action to address medical debt, such as setting limits on hospital charges, expanding financial assistance, and removing medical debt from credit reports.

You can see the full memo from HIT here.

“At a time when some in Washington are looking to gut critical health care programs, this polling shows that doing so is clearly against the will of the people,” said Mona Shah, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy, Community Catalyst. “In fact, there is a clear desire by voters for bolder action on health care to build a system that is more affordable and equitable, and to address the medical debt crisis. At Community Catalyst, we will continue to advocate for these policies because it is clear there is still much work to be done to make health care more accessible and affordable while creating more protections for people seeking care.”

“In today’s polarized environment, we don’t often see such universal agreement and have those trends remain so consistent among party identification and demographic subgroups. It’s clear that healthcare – particularly affordability and accessibility – is a top priority across the board,” said Ashley Aylward, Senior Researcher at HIT Strategies. “And as someone who has personally dealt with medical debt – to the point of having a foreclosure notice handed to me when I was 13 years old because my parents couldn’t keep up with the bills of my brother’s cancer treatment and my mom’s medications for her multiple sclerosis –  I get it. Every one of us is just one medical emergency away from crushing debt. Voters get it, and they want change.”

This survey consisted of 1000 registered voters nationally, with four national oversamples: Black registered voters, Latinx registered voters, AAPI registered voters, and NonMedicaid Expanded State Voters. The survey was conducted via online panel. The survey fielded from April 1st – 10th. 

The findings reinforce the broader, long-standing efforts of Community Catalyst in advocating for executive and legislative action to protect people from medical debt – alongside partners at the local, state and national level – by expanding Essential Health Benefits to provide more comprehensive care, including dental; keeping medical debt off of credit reports; holding non-profit hospitals accountable to their tax breaks; and more.

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About Community Catalyst:

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all. We’re an experienced, trusted partner to organizations across the country, a change agent to policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and both an adversary and a collaborator to health systems in our efforts to advance health justice. We partner with local, state and national organizations and leaders to leverage and build power so that people are at the center of important decisions about health and health care, whether they are made by health care executives, in state houses, or on Capitol Hill. Together with partners, we’re building a powerful, united movement with a shared vision of and strategy for a health system accountable to all people. Learn more at communitycatalyst.org.