Nearly one-quarter of Americans say the healthcare system is in crisis under Donald Trump in a damning new poll released as millions brace themselves for higher premiums.
A new healthcare survey released Monday found 23 percent of U.S. adults describing the nation’s healthcare system as being “in a state of crisis,” while another 47 percent said it has “major problems.”
Gallup also found 29 percent of people cited high costs as the country’s most urgent health problem—one of the highest readings the firm has logged in years of tracking.
The survey was released on the day that people must apply for Obamacare coverage that begins on New Year’s Day.
The gloom cuts across party lines, according to the Gallup survey. The data show that 81 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans say the system is either in crisis or has major problems.
Americans also fear affordability—something Trump has unsuccessfully tried to paint as a “Democrat hoax.” Only 16 percent said they are satisfied with the total cost of U.S. healthcare, even though 57 percent said they’re content with what they personally pay.
A real-time political countdown is heightening anxiety. Congress is heading toward the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—premium tax credits at year’s end. Monday was the deadline to enroll for Obamacare coverage that starts Jan. 1.
Independent health policy research company KFF estimates that if the enhanced credits expire, subsidized enrollees’ annual premium payments would jump 114 percent on average—from $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, 53, has said Republicans will move their own healthcare package while not extending the ACA subsidies, the Washington Post reported. The Senate has already blocked competing Democratic and Republican approaches in the last week, according to multiple reports.
With the Affordable Care Act on the books since 2010, Gallup’s Lydia Saad said the issue isn’t coverage availability so much as affordability. “It’s not that they don’t have the plans... They can’t afford the plans,” she told The Washington Post. KFF’s Liz told the Post, “Healthcare is a pocketbook issue for people.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
The survey was conducted Nov. 3-25.
