WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 When Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa is worried about making rent on his New York City apartment, he sometimes holds off on filling his blood pressure medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless,\u201d said Obeng-Dankwa, a 58-year-old security guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is among a majority of adults in the U.S. who say that health care is not handled well in the country, according to a new poll from\u00a0The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The poll reveals that public satisfaction with the U.S. health care system is remarkably low, with fewer than half of Americans saying it is generally handled well. Only 12% say it is handled extremely or very well. Americans have similar views about health care for older adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, the public gives even lower marks for how\u00a0prescription drug costs, the quality of care at\u00a0nursing homes\u00a0and\u00a0mental health care\u00a0are being handled, with just 6% or less saying those health services are done very well in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNavigating the American health care system is exceedingly frustrating,\u201d said A. Mark Fendrick, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. \u201cThe COVID pandemic has only made it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than two years after\u00a0the pandemic\u2019s start, health care worker burnout and staffing shortages are plaguing hospitals around the country. And Americans are still having trouble getting in-person medical care after health centers introduced restrictions as\u00a0COVID-19 killed\u00a0and sickened millions of people around the country, Fendrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans, nearly 8 in 10, say they are at least moderately concerned about getting access to quality health care when they need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black and Hispanic adults in particular are resoundingly worried about health care access, with nearly 6 in 10 saying they are very or extremely concerned about getting good care. Fewer than half of white adults, 44%, expressed the same level of worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Racial disparities have long troubled America\u2019s health care system. They have been abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, with\u00a0Black and Hispanic people dying disproportionately\u00a0from the virus. Black and Hispanic men also make up a disproportionately high rate of recent\u00a0monkeypox infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fifty-three percent of women said they are extremely or very concerned about obtaining quality care, compared to 42% of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Americans are united in their dissatisfaction with the health care system, that agreement dissolves when it comes to solutions to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About two-thirds of adults think it is the federal government\u2019s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage, with adults ages 18 to 49 more likely than those over 50 to hold that view. The percentage of people who believe health care coverage is a government responsibility has risen in recent years, ticking up from 57% in 2019 and 62% in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, there\u2019s not consensus on how that coverage might be delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 4 in 10 Americans say they support a single-payer health care system that would require Americans to get their health insurance from a government plan. More, 58%, say they favor a government health insurance plan that anyone can purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There also is broad support for policies that would help Americans pay for the costs of long-term care, including a government-administered insurance plan similar to Medicare, the federal government\u2019s health insurance for people 65 or older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retired nurse Pennie Wright, of Camden, Tennessee, doesn\u2019t like the idea of a government-run health care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After switching to Medicare this year, she was surprised to walk out of her annual well-woman visit, once fully covered by her private insurance plan, with $200 worth of charges for a mammogram and a pap smear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She prefers the flexibility she had on her private insurance plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel like we have the best health care system in the world, we have a choice of where we want to go,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A majority of Americans, roughly two-thirds, were happy to see the government step in to provide free\u00a0COVID-19 testing, vaccines and treatment. Roughly 2 in 10 were neutral about the government\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government\u2019s funding for\u00a0free COVID-19 tests\u00a0dried up at the beginning of the month. And while the White House says\u00a0the latest batch of recommended COVID-19 boosters will be free to anyone who wants one, it doesn\u2019t have money on hand to buy any future rounds of booster shots for every American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighty percent say they support the federal government negotiating for lower drug prices. President Joe Biden this summer signed a landmark bill into law allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. The move is expected to\u00a0save taxpayers as much as $100 billion\u00a0over the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMedication costs should be low, to the minimum so that everyone can afford it,\u201d said Obeng-Dankwa, the Bronx renter who has trouble paying for his medication. \u201cThose who are poor should be able to get all the necessary health they need, in the same way someone who also has the money to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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