VOTER VITALS May 2021 Edition – A Health Care Tracking Poll

MEMORANDUM

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Lauren Crawford Shaver, The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future
RE: VOTER VITALS May 2021 Edition – A Health Care Tracking Poll
DATE: June 2, 2021

The May 2021 edition of Voter Vitals – a nationwide tracking poll conducted by Locust Street Group for the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future – shows that lowering costs continues to be voters’ top health care priority. The vast majority of voters prefer for lawmakers to build on our current health care system rather than starting over by creating a new government-controlled health insurance system like the public option, Medicare For All, Medicare Buy-In or Medicare at 60. The survey also finds most voters are unwilling to pay any more in taxes to create the public option or open seniors’ Medicare up to younger Americans and are concerned about these programs’ unaffordable costs and impact on access to quality care. 
 
“This edition of Voter Vitals shows that an overwhelming majority of voters continue to be satisfied with their current health care coverage and are unwilling to pay more – whether through higher taxes or higher health care costs – to create a new government health insurance system like the public option, Medicare For All, Medicare Buy-In or Medicare at 60. The majority of voters are particularly concerned that proposals to open up Medicare will limit access to quality care and bankrupt the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund,” said Phillip Morris, Partner of Locust Street Group. “Voters continue to send policymakers a clear message that they prefer to build on and improve what is working in health care to lower costs and expand access to high-quality health coverage and care.”

Key findings of the survey include:

• Lowering COSTS (64 percent) is the top health care priority for Democratic, swing, and Republican voters.

• 76 percent of voters with health insurance coverage are SATISFIED with their coverage. 

• More voters support FIXING what we have today (65 percent support) than the public option (49 percent support) and Medicare for All (47 percent support). 

• 64 percent of voters would rather BUILD ON our current health care system than create the public option, and 70 percent are concerned about paying more in taxes to create it. 

• 71 percent of voters are UNWILLING to pay any more for health care and 68 percent are UNWILLING to pay any more in taxes to create a new government health insurance system. 

• The vast majority of voters are CONCERNED about limiting access to quality care (73 percent) and bankrupting the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (70 percent) to expand Medicare.

Methodology:

• N=2,000 U.S. voters nationwide.
• Balanced to U.S. demographics by gender, age, race, income, political ideology and health coverage.
• Fielded online: May 11-18, 2021. 
• Margin of error: plus or minus two percent.

The May 2021 edition of Voter Vitals tracks closely with other national polling, including a recent Gallup survey, which found that 74 percent of Americans rate their health care coverage as excellent or good.

• To read Locust Street’s executive summary of the survey findings, CLICK HERE.

• To read Locust Street’s complete survey analysis, CLICK HERE.
   
• The March 2021 edition of Voter Vitals can be viewed HERE.
   
• The December 2020 edition of Voter Vitals can be viewed HERE.
   
• The September 2020 edition of Voter Vitals can be viewed HERE. 

• The March 2020 edition of Voter Vitals  can be viewed HERE.

• The November 2019 edition of Voter Vitals can be viewed HERE.

• The first August 2019 edition of Voter Vitals can be viewed HERE.

• To learn more about the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, CLICK HERE.