Controlling What You Can is our new series dedicated to asking YOU what matters most on the major policy topics that face the nation. This post is a recap of a poll we put out on 3/14/2025. If you want to join the conversation, keep an eye on your inbox and check us out on X – we ask a new question every week. Want to join the conversation? Sign up here and follow us on X.
We asked you all two big questions about healthcare. The first was a general overview question of “how satisfied are you with the current healthcare system?”
You were staunchly of the opinion that our healthcare system needs improvement (by the way, if you want to add your thoughts to this slider, or leave a comment on the page, you can do so here).
But we didn’t stop there – a broad question on sentiment is just the tip of the iceberg. We also asked you “what do you think is the biggest healthcare issue facing this country?”
An overwhelming majority of Forwardists were dissatisfied with the state of healthcare today. Over 2/3 highlighted the high cost of services as the biggest issue facing our system, while nearly 1 in 5 said that it was a lack of preventative care.
Additionally, you wrote us by the hundreds on our website and social media with your thoughts and ideas on what’s wrong with our healthcare system and what we can do to fix it. Here are the top five takeaways from those notes:
- Affordability and Cost
- Most all of you were concerned with the rising costs of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.
- Medicaid and Medicare users worry about potential impending cuts.
- Insurance Challenges and Coverage Limitations
- Many of you were not happy with the accessibility of employer-provided insurance, making insurance unattainable for retirees and low-income individuals.
- Many also discussed situations where a legitimate claim was denied, and statistics about the rate of
claim denial were shared.
- Accessibility and Provider Availability
- The complexity of our current healthcare system was a constant refrain.
- Wait times for treatments were also highlighted as a problem across the country.
- Quality of Care and Patient Experience
- There were many discussions of how doctors have to cram in too many patients in a day to make money, meaning that visits are rushed and don’t often lead to the right solution.
- There were many discussions of how doctors have to cram in too many patients in a day to make money, meaning that visits are rushed and don’t often lead to the right solution.
- Systemic Issues and Reform Suggestions
- You proposed a flood of ideas to fix these problems, but the most common (more than 70% of those who made recommendations) were a single-payer or a public option.
- For those who didn’t propose a specific solution, they highlighted that any solution must must solve the inefficiencies that plague our healthcare system today, as well as providing more preventative care to improve outcomes and lower overall costs.