VOTER VITALS August 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 August 2021 Edition – A Health Care Tracking Poll
DATE: August 24, 2021

The August 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 start over by creating a new government-controlled health insurance system like the public option or opening up Medicare to younger Americans. The survey also finds voters’ preference for current coverage options over new government health insurance systems is rising, as greater majorities of Americans report they would prefer to keep their current coverage rather than purchase public option coverage or Medicare coverage.
 
“The August 2021 edition of Voter Vitals demonstrates that an overwhelming majority of voters continue to be satisfied with their current health coverage and are unwilling to pay more – through higher taxes or higher health care costs – to create a public option or expand Medicare,” said Phillip Morris, Partner of Locust Street Group. “Voters’ preference for keeping their current coverage over purchasing the public option or Medicare coverage has risen since the previous edition of Voter Vitals, and 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. 

• Support for new government-controlled proposals has DECLINED – including for Medicare Buy-In (52 percent support, -4 percent since May) and the public option (46 percent support, -3 percent since May). 

• A GROWING majority would rather keep their current coverage than purchase public option coverage (69 percent, +3 percent since May) or Medicare coverage (82 percent, +5 percent since May). 

• The overwhelming majority of voters between the ages of 50 and 64 would rather KEEP their current coverage (82 percent) than purchase Medicare coverage (18 percent).

• 64 percent prefer BUILDING ON our current system rather than creating the public option, and 67 percent prefer building on our current system instead of opening up Medicare.

• 71 percent of voters are UNWILLING to pay any more for health care and 70 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 (71 percent), bankrupting the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (67 percent) and increasing payroll taxes (67 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: August 6-12, 2021. 
• Margin of error: plus or minus two percent.

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

To read previous editions of Voter Vitals, CLICK HERE.
 
To learn more about the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, CLICK HERE.