By Sarah Fortinsky - 08/07/24

A majority of Americans say they have an unfavorable view of the U.S. health care system, in a YouGov poll published Tuesday.

Fifty-three percent of respondents hold a “very or somewhat” unfavorable view of the system, while 40 percent hold a “very or somewhat” favorable view.

Favorable views of the system are more common with men (42 percent) than with women (39 percent); with Black Americans (49 percent) than with white Americans (38 percent); with straight people (43 percent) than with LGBTQ+ people (25 percent); and with adults 65 and older (59 percent) than with adults younger than 30 (28 percent).

Some Americans say they have personally been treated negatively by a doctor because of personal attributes, including their weight (11 percent), insurance or lack of insurance (6 percent), physical appearance, (6 percent), mental health (6 percent), age (5 percent), gender (5 percent), race or ethnicity (4 percent) or others.

Another 32 percent say they have avoided seeking out medical care because of past negative experiences with a doctor — including 23 percent of men and 40 percent of women.

Respondents think patients receive worse care for personal attributes at a higher rate than people report actually receiving worse care.

Fifty-six percent of people in the poll say they think patients “very or somewhat often” receive worse care because of their insurance plan, while only 28 percent thinks this happens “never or not very open.”

Twenty-seven percent say they think doctors treat patients worse because of their gender, and 19 percent say doctors treat patients worse because of their religion.

The poll was conducted on June 21-24 and included 1,200 U.S. adults. The margin of error is about 4 percentage points.