Research & Community Engagement

Centering people’s shared and diverse needs
to guide our mission and work.

To improve the health care system, we must start by listening to people and including them in every step of the process.

Our goals:

Champion authentic listening and public engagement to drive long-term change and center USofCare’s priority policies and campaigns around the true needs of people.
Understand people’s immediate needs to inform federal and state-level responses.
Identify the most effective messages that are resonant, values-based and increase support for our prioritized policies.
Support USofCare’s near-term efforts to craft and pass policies that address people’s needs.

Our Research Approach

Our work is designed to strategically include several types of activities that are taking place simultaneously to provide a comprehensive picture of people’s needs, including:

Commissioned research to learn even more about people’s values, needs, desired outcomes, and policy solutions.
Community conversations to include in-depth interviews and deep listening conversations where we have open dialogue with individuals and small groups.
Regular analysis of public opinion to ground our findings in the wealth of existing research commissioned by national leaders and to monitor shifts in the landscape. These topline takeaways are then shared with state and federal policymakers.
Ongoing engagements and consultations with USofCare’s key stakeholders and external advisors, including public opinion research partners and members of the Voices of Real Life who offer diverse viewpoints based on lived experiences and expertise.
Secondary analysis and academic research to identify specific factors that correlate with various and disparate health outcomes and experiences.

Key Findings

Our research shows cost being the main source of anxiety when it comes to health care and
most agree it is time to build a better health care system.

84% of voters agree that cost is the main source of anxiety when it comes to health care

42% of voters have foregone health insurance in the past because of costs

41% of those under 30 have opted not to seek medical treatment in the last year due to cost

68% express concern about people close to them losing insurance due to loss of employment

Our Insights

United States of Care has spent years listening to more than 30,000 people across all 50 states to understand the challenges in today’s health care system.

We analyze these conversations to identify key themes, captured in a series of insight reports we call “Pulse Checks.”

go to pulse check