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Hospital Consolidation, High Health Care Costs Burdening People and a Driving Desire for Congress to Act
FACT SHEET: PUBLIC OPINION POLL
Consistently across our listening research, it is evident that there is an affordability crisis in health care. This is reinforced in a poll commissioned by United States of Care Action in April 2026. This poll asks about people’s experiences with affordability and costs and how both pressures shape their views on policies to improve the health care system.
The results of this poll highlight the ways in which people continue to be burdened by high health care costs, particularly hospital costs. This isn’t surprising given that hospital spending continues to make up the largest share of total health care expenditures and decades-long hospital consolidation has resulted in large hospital systems amassing substantial market power, crowding out competition, and hiking prices and fees.
Patients are ultimately left to either assume financial hardship to afford care or forego care altogether. This poll demonstrates strong non-partisan support for key policies that will address hospital costs – and emphasizes people’s strong desire for Congress to take action and a deep mistrust in private health care companies to lower costs on their own.
The Perfect Pricing Storm
As Congress puts health care affordability into sharper focus, one resounding truth is clear: people are struggling to pay for the care they need. Year after year, people are straining to access care as costs and prices continue to skyrocket. Hospital spending continues to make up the largest share of total health care expenditures – outpacing spending on retail prescription drugs and physician services combined. Decades-long hospital consolidation has resulted in large hospital systems amassing substantial market power, crowding out competition, and hiking prices and fees for patients who are ultimately left making an impossible decision to assume financial hardship to afford care, or forego care altogether.
Since its founding in 2018, United States of Care (USofCare) has conducted listening research with people across the country to learn about their interactions with the health care system. In that time, our years-long research shows cost as the top concern for people, sowing further mistrust of the health care industry.
In the context of Congressional focus on health care affordability, United States of Care Action commissioned Morning Consult to conduct a poll between April 6-April 7, 2026 among a sample of 2,001 adults (margin of error +/- 2%) to understand the perspectives of individuals encountering a health care system that’s increasingly become financially out of reach.
Health Care Costs Are Unaffordable & Challenges Are Widespread
People perceive a health care system that is unaffordable and those perceptions are rooted in the realities of their experiences with high health care costs at nearly every interaction they have with the health care system.
There is a widely held view that health care is unaffordable.
71% of respondents agree that health care costs are unaffordable for people and families.
The High Cost Burden is Felt at Every Turn, Regardless of Coverage Type
Top Health Care Costs with the Biggest Financial Impact on People
Percentages do not add up to 100% due to the survey question, which asked respondents to select the top two costs they experience as most difficult.
People Believe Hospitals Overcharge Patients
Seeking solutions, people do not trust industry stakeholders to lower costs on their own. People want Congress to take action, and do not trust that costs will get better by allowing private health care companies to address high costs on their own.
Across Political Affiliation and Geography, a Majority of People Believe Hospitals Charge Above What is Needed
53%
A majority of people (53%) believe hospitals charge more than they need to, a view that holds true across all political affiliations and geography. Conversely, only 29% believe hospital prices refelct their costs, and 20% don’t know or have an opinion.
Demographic Categories: Political affiliation & Geography
Don’t Know / No Opinion
Price Reflects Costs
Charge More Than Needed
About 53% of people don’t trust private health care companies to regulate health care costs on their own.
People Want Congressional Action to Drive Down the Cost of Health Care
When considering actions that Congress and policymakers can take, people expressed widespread, bipartisan support for a number of specific policies to lower the cost of health care for people.
The Top Health Care Issue People Want Congress to Prioritize: Lowering Health Care Costs is #1
- 39% Lowering health care costs
- 21% Improving Access to Care
- 12% Increasing Insurance Coverage
- 11% Improving Quality
- 16% Don’t Know or No Opinion
Across Political Affiliations, a Majority of People Will Prioritize Candidates’ Views on Health Care Costs in the Midterm Election
76% of people believe a candidate’s position on health care costs is important in deciding who they vote for in the midterm elections.
By party:
- 85% Democrats
- 79% Republicans
- 64% Independents
84%*of people with employer-sponsored insurance believe a candidate’s position on addressing health care costs is important.
(48% agree it’s “very important”)
57%of people who are uninsured believe a candidate’s position on health costs is important when voting in the midterms.
A Majority of People Want Congressional Action to Regulate Health Care Companies
People agree that Congress should act to ensure affordable health care, even if that means regulating health care companies.
- 69% agree (42% strongly agree)
- 22% neither agree or disagree
- 9% disagree
Across Political Affiliations, People Agree Congress Should Act:
- 81% identify as Democrat
- 66% identify as Republican
- 59% identify as Independent
Across Policy Solutions, People Indicate Consistent Support for Policies to Lower the Health Care Costs
Our Poll Results Are Clear: Policymakers Must Act to Lower Health Care Costs For People
The cost of health care is unaffordable and people overwhelmingly want policymakers to take action. While this poll surveys a national sample, these sentiments are echoed at the state level as seen in recent polling we conducted in Maine, Minnesota, and North Carolina.
FACT SHEET: PUBLIC OPINION POLL – The Perfect Pricing Storm: Hospital Consolidation, High Health Care Costs Burdening People and a Driving Desire for Congress to Act
Keep Exploring Health Care Affordability
Affordability is at the center of how people experience the health care system. Explore our latest research, state and federal policy advocacy, and solutions to learn more about how we can make care more affordable for everyone.
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About United States of Care Action
United States of Care Action is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing health care reforms at the state and federal levels for everyday people. Our policy solutions are based on qualitative and quantitative research, listening to real people’s needs across the country, translating those needs into policy, and then advocating for reforms that deliver on what people seek from the system.