Gallup Finds Americans Have Grown Less Satisfied with Health System

As reported by Maya Goldman on AXIOS, Gallup has found that while U.S. adults are mostly satisfied with our healthcare system, over the last 13 years that level of satisfaction has been dropping. Asked to rate how components of the system are providing “excellent” or “good quality” service, only walk-in clinics and urgent care centers registered a positive uptick since 2010 — at 2 percentage points (pp) better. Faring worst in declining satisfaction were pharmaceutical companies (minus 21 pp), followed by physicians (minus 15 pp) and hospitals and hospital emergency rooms (minus 14 pp and minus 13 pp). Health insurance companies came in at minus 11, nursing homes at minus 8, and nurses at minus 6. Gallup said COVID-19, ballooning costs, and the opioid crisis are likely factors contributing to Americans’ negative sentiments and have reversed the goodwill Americans felt toward healthcare providers at the start of the pandemic. Gallup did point out that the full picture is not negative. For instance, while views about nurses were down 6 percentage points, 82% still rated care from them as excellent or good. Similarly, 69% still rated physicians’ care as excellent or good (down from 84% in 2010). “Americans were least satisfied with nursing home care,” Gallup says. “Just 25% rated nursing homes as excellent or good, while 37% rated them as poor.”