Report

West Health-Gallup 2022 Healthcare in America Report

How do Americans feel about the state of U.S. healthcare?

Since 2018, West Health and Gallup have been tracking perceptions of the U.S. healthcare system to identify how it is working for the American people.

The 2022 Healthcare in America Report continues to examine how Americans deal with the high cost of healthcare. In the latest study, a nationally representative sample of more than 5,500 Americans were asked to grade the U.S. healthcare system overall, and then grade it specifically on its affordability, equity, accessibility and quality.

The report shows that a large number of Americans across the political and socioeconomic spectrum continue to feel that healthcare is simply too expensive.

Download the special feature section on older Americans (PDF).

Read the full report to understand what is driving dissatisfaction with the healthcare system and to learn about:

how Americans are coping with the high cost of healthcare and which groups are struggling the most
gender, age, ethnic and socioeconomic differences related to cost, equity, access and quality
the tradeoffs Americans are making to pay for needed healthcare
new estimates on West Health-Gallup's healthcare affordability and value indices
growing concerns about healthcare affordability in the future, including the viability of Medicare and Social Security
the impact of healthcare costs on older Americans

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Survey Methods

Results are based on surveys conducted June 21-30, 2022, with 5,584 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia as part of the Gallup Panel. For results based on these samples of national adults, the margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is ±1.6 percentage points for response percentages around 50% and ±1.0 percentage points for response percentages around 10% or 90%, design effect included. For reported subgroups, the margin of error will be larger, typically ranging from ±3 to ±4 percentage points. All demographic group comparisons in the report are significant at p<.05 unless otherwise noted.

Prior Gallup Panel surveys were administered by web Sept. 27-30 and Oct. 18-21, 2021 (n=6,663), March 15-21, 2021 (n=3,905), and June 14-20, 2021 (n=4,843). The June 2022 and September-October 2021 results were obtained on a West Health survey solely asking about healthcare issues, whereas the March and June 2021 measurements were asked toward the end of Gallup's ongoing coronavirus pandemic tracking survey.

Read the Survey Press Release

The West Health-Gallup 2022 Healthcare in America Report finds that many Americans across the political and socioeconomic spectrum continue to feel that healthcare is simply too expensive. Download the initial press release highlighting the study's key findings.

Download Press Release

44% of Americans give the U.S. healthcare system overall a poor or failing grade of D or F.

1 in 5 Americans report that they have had a health problem worsen after being unable to pay for needed care. The problem is much worse for women and people of color.

~70 million Americans report that if they needed access to quality care today, they would not be able to afford it.