Increasing health care costs and possible loss of medical coverage are now a “prominent concern for Americans”, a leading U.S. academic told Newsweek, with a just-released poll seemingly confirming those fears.
Dr. Benjamin Sommers, a professor of medicine and healthcare economics at Harvard University, added that many people “are uncertain which direction the economy as a whole is heading, which adds to that stress”.
Meanwhile, a new poll has shown that the majority of Americans are significantly worried about their health care costs increasing, as forecasts have predicted major spikes in health insurance premium costs for next year.
The poll, conducted by the Associated Press (AP) and NORC at the University of Chicago across October 9 to 13, and sampling 1,289 adults over the age of 18, found that 57 percent of Americans were "extremely" or "very" concerned about rising health care costs.
Why It Matters
Health care is a highly important issue to many Americans – the AP-NORC poll found that 81 percent of Americans thought it was either an "extremely" or "very" important issue, second in priority only to the economy.
Many Americans are confronted with significant jumps in monthly premium costs. National average increases for Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant plans are forecasted to go up around 20 percent, due to the expected expiration of the enhanced tax credits at the end of the year.
Those on employer health benefit plans also expected to see an average increase of over 6 percent in cost next year, and many using Medicaid are likely going to be rolled off the program, not only due to the continuous unwinding process happening post-pandemic, but also due to the Trump administration's major cuts and changes to the program.
What To Know
The findings also revealed that around four in ten Americans were similarly worried about: not being able to pay for necessary health care or medication, not being able to access crucial health care, or lacking health insurance.
Feeling this concern, many survey participants – six in ten – felt it was the "responsibility of the federal government to make sure that all Americans have health care coverage."
However, it seems that not many in the survey felt that the federal government was effectively tackling the issue, as only 31 percent approved of President Donald Trump's handling of health care.
This was significantly lower than the support he gathered in regard to other aspects of policy, such as his handling of the conflict in the Middle East (47 percent support), immigration (42), and the economy (36).
AP-NORC's poll suggested that Americans tend to place more trust in the Democratic Party when it comes to health, as 38 percent said they trusted Democrats to handle the issue, compared with 25 percent who trust Republicans. However, there was more support for the Republican Party to tackle issues such as crime and the economy.
There has been an uptick in concern in regard to health care in recent years. In February 2024, 74 percent of surveyed Americans in a KFF poll reported feeling “very” or “somewhat worried” about being able to afford unexpected medical bills, with 55 percent worried about being able to afford prescription drug costs, and 48 percent worried about being able to afford their monthly health insurance premium.
These figures were higher than similar polls conducted in previous years, and show that 2025 has been the year that many Americans have become increasingly worried about their health care costs.
Sommers said: "I think this shows that many Americans understand the policy changes happening in health care, which are putting coverage and affordability at risk for tens of millions of people."
"In addition, economic uncertainty makes health care affordability more concerning even if a person does not have Medicaid or Marketplace coverage," he added.
What People Are Saying
Dr. Benjamin Sommers, a professor of medicine and healthcare economics at Harvard University, told Newsweek: "For 45 million Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces or Medicaid expansion for coverage, policies going into effect over the next year are expected to cause many to lose coverage entirely or face massive increases in premiums.
"This is primarily a combination of the red-tape work requirements in Medicaid that President Trump’s tax law added, and the expiration of enhanced Marketplace subsidies that will go away at the end of 2025 if Congress does not act.
He added: "So far, the major changes we’re seeing from the Trump administration on health insurance are large cutbacks in Medicaid and the Marketplace. Democrats have been arguing during this shutdown that reversing Trump’s Medicaid cuts and extending the Marketplace subsidies are their demands for voting to open the government.
"This poll suggests they’re accurately perceiving the public’s frustrations with the President’s health policies. Whether the President will be willing to shift gears, which even some of his traditional Republican allies are suggesting, is unclear."
Kosali Simon, a health economist and associate vice provost for Health Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, told Newsweek: "I am not surprised people are extremely concerned about their health costs increasing.
"Even though some of the increases are not eye-popping by themselves – a 6 percent increase in premiums for family employer health insurance for 2026 compared to 2025 – they are already at fairly high sticker price shock: average annual premium for a family is nearly $27,000 in 2025.
"Compare that to what people earn on average: median household income in 2024 was $83,730. Health care in the U.S. is very expensive. People are also very concerned about quality, even though most are satisfied with their own specialists and care providers, there are several administrative inefficiencies that people are concerned about and other factors.
"A larger question here is what should government do about that – should we have the government pay an even larger share of the total healthcare bill of the nation than they currently do – some estimates are they pay about a half. But more of concern maybe is how much do they pay for poorer versus middle income individuals, and should the government regulate quality more. We see a lot of healthcare consolidation going on, corporatization of healthcare, and we see expensive medications coming online and need to figure out how we pay for them."
What Happens Next
Significant increases in health care costs and changes to eligibility for many types of health insurance are expected in 2026.
