For Third Year in a Row,
PRI Survey Finds Vast Majority of Americans
Are Satisfied with their Health Coverage
Just 37% Support Government Health Care Takeover
SACRAMENTO – For the third year in a row, an overwhelming majority of Americans say they are satisfied with their current health coverage, based on a new national survey commissioned by the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, free market think tank.
91% said they were satisfied with their current health insurance plan, compared to 8% who were dissatisfied. The number has grown each year PRI has conducted the survey.
Just 37% of respondents said they would support a complete government takeover of America’s health care system, where private health insurance would be banned, compared with 47% who were opposed. Support for single-payer health care dropped 3% compared with the 2023 survey.
“Our latest survey finds the American people are overwhelmingly satisfied with their current health coverage and don’t want a government health care takeover,” said Sally Pipes, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy. “The presidential candidates should listen to the voices of the people and empower patients and doctors, not government bureaucrats, when formulating their plans for America’s health care future.”
When asked how they would rate their current health coverage, 72% rated it as good, compared to 21% who rated it adequate and 6% who rated it poor.
When asked why they were dissatisfied with their health coverage, respondents cited high out-of-pocket costs – 57% said their deductibles were too high and 44% said their premiums were too expensive.
66% agreed with the statement that we should make the U.S. health care system more competitive by empowering patients and doctors rather than giving more power to the federal government, with just 14% who disagreed.
Among other health care questions asked:
- 80% said they were concerned about Medicare Part A going bankrupt.
- 61% opposed allowing undocumented immigrants to enroll in state-based Medicaid plans (known as Medi-Cal in California).
- Voters were evenly divided (46% support vs. 42% opposed) on whether to allow “Dreamers” in the DACA program to enroll in Healthcare.gov or state health exchanges.
Echelon Insights conducted the national survey for PRI from July 19-21, 2024, in English, among a sample of 982 voters nationwide determined to be part of the likely electorate for the 2024 election using non-probability sampling. The sample was weighted to population benchmarks for registered voters and 2024 likely voters on gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, region, party, and 2020 president vote adjusted for 2024 turnout probability. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.8 percentage points.
