Tom Zawierucha, 58, a building services worker in New Jersey, wishes candidates would talk more about protecting older Americans from big medical bills. Teresa Morton, 43, a freight dispatcher in Memphis, Tennessee, with two teenagers, wants to hear more about how elected officials would help working Americans saddled with unaffordable deductibles. Yessica Gray, 28, a customer support representative in Wisconsin, craves relief from high drug prices and medical bills that have driven her and her husband deep into debt.
"How much are we going to pay?" she said. "It’s just something that’s always on my mind." Health care hasn't figured prominently in this increasingly acrimonious presidential campaign.
And the economy has generally topped the list of voters' concerns. But Americans remain intensely worried about paying for medical care, national surveys show. Two in 3 U.
S. adults in a recent nationwide poll by West Health and Gallup said they're concerned a major health event would land them in debt. A similar share said health care isn't getting enough attention in the campaign.
To better understand voters' health care concerns as the 2024 campaign nears an end, KFF Health News worked with research firm PerryUndem to convene a pair of focus groups last week with 16 people from across the country. PerryUndem is a nonpartisan firm based in Washington, D.C.
, that studies public views on health care and other issues. The focus group participants represented a broad swath of the.