West Health-Gallup report: 44% of Americans give the U.S. healthcare system poor or failing grades

West Health-Gallup report: 44% of Americans give the U.S. healthcare system poor or failing grades

Nearly half the country (44%), or about 114 million Americans, give the U.S. health care system poor (30%) or failing (14%) grades, percentages that climb higher and become even more negative when it comes to affordability and health equity, according to a new report from West Health and Gallup, the polling organization.

The 2022 West Health-Gallup Healthcare in America Report asked a nationally representative sample of more than 5,500 Americans to give the healthcare system a grade (A-excellent, B-good, C-satisfactory, D-poor and F-fail) overall and to assign individual grades for affordability, equity, accessibility and quality of care.

Good grades were in short supply across the board; the health system received an average grade of C-minus. Women and Hispanic and Asian Americans were more negative, with about half of each group giving it a grade of D or F, compared with about 40% of men and 43% of white and black Americans.

However, nothing earned more bad marks than affordability, which for three-quarters of Americans -; an estimated 190 million adults -; earned no more than a D (41%) or F (33%), for an average grade of D-minus. A top grade of A was virtually non-existent (1%), only 6% received a grade of B, and 19% gave it a moderate grade of C. Negative feelings about health care affordability were divided by gender, age, race, household income, and political persuasion.

After years of higher prices, growing inequities, skipping treatments, getting sicker, or borrowing money to pay medical bills, it's no wonder so many Americans view the health care system so poorly. This new report should send a strong message to policymakers that despite health care provisions in the Anti-Inflation Act, most of which will not come into force for some time, urgent action still needs to be taken to reduce health care prices.”

Timothy A. Lash, President of West Health

Testimony on health equity, access and quality of care

Two-thirds of Black Americans (66%) and a similar percentage of Asian Americans (64%) gave a D or F for equity, the ability of each person to receive quality care when they need it, regardless of personal characteristics. That's higher than the 55% of Hispanic Americans and 53% of white Americans who rated health equity as poor or inadequate. Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans and women were also more critical when it came to access to care. More than 40% of each of these groups reported access to Ds and Fs, compared with about a third of white Americans and men.

The quality of care was the only aspect of the health system that was rated more positively than negatively, but still only achieved an overall grade of C-plus. Less than half (47%) gave it an A or B, but there was a clear gender gap, with women much less likely to give high marks for quality than men (38% versus 57%). Black and Hispanic Americans were more negative about quality and less likely to give top marks than the general population (36% each versus 47% overall).

Make the grade -; Why do so many Americans view health care so poorly?

Millions of Americans struggle every day in the face of an expensive health care system, a struggle that leads not only to a poor report card but also to negative real-life consequences. Nearly one in five Americans say their or a family member's health problem has worsened after being unable to pay for needed care, and an estimated 70 million people (27%) say that if they needed quality care today, they would not be able to afford it.

"What I did instead is ration health care... Medicine. Use less to make it last. Use less than prescribed to make it last longer... Things weren't as good as they could have been if I had used it the way I should have," said 71-year-old Anne Courtney Davis of Ohio, one of the survey participants.

Other important findings

• 66 % der Amerikaner geben an, dass ihr Haushalt im Verhältnis zur Qualität der Pflege, die sie erhalten, zu viel zahlt, sechs Punkte mehr als im April letzten Jahres.
• Die Hälfte des Landes, etwa 129 Millionen Menschen, haben kein Vertrauen, dass sie sich im Alter eine Gesundheitsversorgung leisten können.
• Zwei von drei Amerikanern unter 65 Jahren befürchten, dass Medicare nicht mehr existieren wird, wenn sie 65 Jahre alt werden, und 3 von 4 Erwachsenen unter 62 Jahren sagen dasselbe über die soziale Sicherheit.
• 17 % kürzen Gesundheitsleistungen, um für andere Haushaltsgüter zu bezahlen, wobei Frauen häufiger als Männer (ca. 50 % wahrscheinlicher) dazu neigen; und schwarze (23 %) und hispanische (24 %) Amerikaner 53 % bzw. 60 % häufiger als weiße Erwachsene (15 %).
• Sechs von zehn Amerikanern geben an, dass die Kosten ein äußerst wichtiger oder wichtiger Faktor sind, wenn sie ein empfohlenes medizinisches Verfahren oder Medikament in Betracht ziehen.
• Menschen zwischen 50 und 64 sagen fast doppelt so häufig, dass die Kosten extrem wichtig sind, als Menschen über 65 (29 % gegenüber 16 %) -; Raten, die bei schwarzen (39 %) und hispanischen Erwachsenen (41 %) sogar noch höher liegen.

“Although America's ranking of the U.S. health care system is troubling, it offers health systems and policymakers a roadmap to invest and address areas with the greatest impact on changing sentiment,” said Dan Witters, research director for Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index. “We must remember that there are real people behind these grades and that too many Americans stubbornly struggle to access and afford quality health care.”

Source:

Western Institute of Health

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