We all go to the doctor. But our health is a part of our lives that many Americans don't talk about with others. However, health care is often a key point in political platforms and priorities, including Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and the Republican Party's current platform promise to "fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts." Debates on health care policies take center stage during election years, and are heavily polled about. What do Americans think about our health care system on a personal level — rather than a national one?
Only 40% of Americans have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of the U.S. health care system. 53% have an unfavorable view of it. Favorable views are more common among men (42%), Black Americans (49%), straight Americans (43%), and adults 65 and older (59%) than among women (39%), white Americans (38%), Americans who don't identify as straight (25%) and adults under 30 (28%).
The favorability of medical professionals, such as doctors (78%) and nurses (87%), is much higher than the U.S. health care system itself (40%).
More Americans 65 and older have a favorable view of doctors (91%) and nurses (94%) than adults under 30 do (64% and 78%). In addition, more Democrats than Republicans and men than women have favorable opinions towards doctors and nurses.
Some medical professionals — including RaDonda Vaught, Christopher Duntsch, and Farid Fata — have led to the death of patients. While medical malpractice can result in death, most cases of medical malpractice go unreported, making it hard to measure and track. Medical malpractice is also a difficult term to define. In the survey, YouGov asked Americans how they would define it. In response to the open-ended question, one respondent said that it is the “failure to perform routine duties and cause harm to the patient, because of an act of commission or omission.” Others thought malpractice could only occur when the legal system was involved.
While each state in the U.S. has its own slightly different definition, Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute says malpractice occurs when a doctor “breaches their duty” to a patient. This can include discrimination, medical negligence, physical or psychological abuse, and more.
Though 60% of Americans say they have not experienced discrimination by medical practitioners, 31% say a doctor has targeted them negatively because of their identity — and for some, because of more than one identity.
11% of Americans say that a doctor has treated them negatively because of their weight. In response to an open-ended follow-up question, one respondent wrote that they “feel sometimes doctors put some problems off to [them] being overweight, rather than finding out what could be an underlying problem.” Another said that their doctor blamed the patient’s weight for the doctor's mistake during a procedure of cutting the patient's blood vessels instead of their fallopian tube. In a 2023 survey, 44% of Americans who described themselves as obese and 21% who described themselves as overweight said they had personally faced prejudice in the healthcare settings as a result of their weight. 68% of Americans who described themselves as obese and 45% of Americans who described themselves as overweight said that a health care provider has advised them to lose weight in response to a non-weight-related health concern.
6% of Americans say that a doctor has discriminated against them due to their physical appearance. (Respondents could name more than one form of discrimination.)
6% say that a doctor has treated them negatively because of their insurance, or lack of it. One respondent wrote in an open-ended follow-up question, “When I had my first child I was on Medicaid and I think they used me as a Guinea pig and gave awful care.”
Some Americans say that doctors have discriminated against them due to their mental health (6%), disabilities (4%), and neurodivergencies (1%). In response to the open-ended follow-up, some respondents said that their doctors treated them like drug addicts for requesting pain relief for their disability. One person said that when they started going to a new doctor, they were accused of having “conned my old doctor into giving me the thyroid medication and took me off my medication cold-turkey.” Another said that they were “treated like an annoyance by E.R staff because I had a nervous breakdown and needed mental health care.”
Many Americans shared personal stories about medical trauma and discrimination with YouGov. One person said that they wanted to sue their cardiologist for “insist[ing they] could work with an EF of 14%” when they were 40 years old. According to Penn Medicine, any EF or ejection fraction below 40% is considered possible heart failure. They said they couldn’t sue because of the statute of limitations. Another respondent said when they were in the intensive care unit, "nurses were outside my room talking awful, hateful things about me when they thought I was still all drugged up.”
Some women and transgender Americans say that they felt that doctors treated them negatively because of their gender identity (5%). One person said that they were “accused of being schizophrenic for being a trans man.” Another said that “the doctor didn't believe I was having the pain and exaggerating” because the patient was a young woman, but it "turned out to be gallstones and [I] had to have my gallbladder removed.”
About 4% of Americans say doctors treated them negatively because of their race. One respondent told YouGov that doctors make “assumptions about lifestyle, habits, or health literacy” based on their race.
32% of Americans — including 23% of men and 40% of women — say that they have avoided seeking out medical care as a result of negative experiences they had with a previous doctor.
A majority of Americans believe that patients very or somewhat often receive worse care from doctors due to their insurance plan (56%). 28% of Americans said that patients never or not very often receive worse treatment due to their insurance. Only 27% believe that doctors treat patients worse due to a patients' gender and 19% say the same about religion. Majorities of Americans, however, say that doctors never or infrequently provide a patient worse care due to their gender (52%) or religion (57%).
In 2023, a majority of Americans (65%) said that people who are obese face discrimination very or somewhat often in healthcare. 43% of Americans said that doctors give patients worse treatment due to their weight.
Greater shares of women than men consider many forms of medical discrimination to be common. More women than men say that doctors very or somewhat often treat patients worse due to their disability, gender, race, religion, and weight.
More Americans with a college degree than those without a degree say that doctors very or somewhat often treat patients negatively because of patients' age, gender, insurance plan, race, and weight.
Republicans also have more faith in proper health care treatment. 57% of Republicans say that doctors never or rarely treat a disabled patient negatively — 14-percentage points more than the number of Democrats. More Democrats (36%) than Republicans (24%) say that disabled Americans receive worse treatment from a doctor due to their disability very or somewhat often.
Americans do not have much faith in the criminal justice system bringing accountability to doctors who commit medical malpractice. Less than half of Americans thought that a doctor would always or usually be held legally liable for any of the instances of medical malpractice surveyed about.
Just under half of Americans (45%) thought that a doctor would always or usually be held accountable under the law for practicing medicine without a license. More Americans believe that actions that physically hurt a patient will result in the doctor being held legally liable than do actions that cause psychological harm or clinical negligence.
37% of Americans believe that a doctor who violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), or shares patient information without permission, never or rarely is held liable. 41% of Americans say the same about a doctor who discriminates against a patient based on their identity — or violates the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Given that negative opinions of the U.S. health care system are fairly common, what can be done to make Americans feel safe and comfortable at the doctor’s office?
82% of Americans say that doctors can make patients feel comfortable by listening to them. Three-quarters of Americans say that they feel comfortable with a doctor when the doctor allows them to ask questions. The ability to talk through everything (70%) and doctors believing patients about their symptoms (67%) also were highlighted as comforting by majorities of Americans.
More than three-quarters (77%) of Americans have seen a medical provider in the last year — including 64% who have seen one in the last six months.
A majority (57%) of Americans have visited family practitioners or pediatricians before. About one-third of Americans have gone to see a dermatologist. Less than one-third of Americans report seeing each other kind of specialist asked about — including OB-GYNs (27%), ENTs (27%), gastroenterologists (21%), allergists or immunologists (16%), and pain specialists (11%).
When choosing a doctor, the largest shares of Americans say a doctor's acceptance of their insurance plan (94%) and their availability in appointments (93%) are very or somewhat important.
The behavior of a doctor — such as their bedside manner — and logistical convenience are important to more Americans than a doctor’s identity. Greater shares of women than men say that the following characteristics of a doctor are important: age (44% of women vs. 39% of men), gender identity (35% vs. 27%), and religious beliefs (27% vs. 21%).
30% of Americans prefer to be treated by a doctor who is a woman — including 12% of men and 46% of women. 12% of Americans prefer to be treated by a doctor who is a man — including 20% of men and 3% of women. Put another way, 20% of men prefer to be treated by a doctor who is a man while 12% prefer a doctor who is a woman; among women there is a much more clear preference for a doctor who is a woman (46% vs. 3%).
The political identity of their doctor isn’t important to two-thirds of Americans. One-third of Democrats and one-third of Republicans prefer a doctor from their own political party.
And while a doctor’s political party doesn't matter to most Americans — their stances on many political and medical issues do. Majorities of Americans say that when choosing a doctor, they consider important a doctor's stance on pain management (80%), mental health (79%), vaccines (74%), end-of-life care (68%), COVID-19 (65%), disability equity (59%), alternative medicine (56%), and abortion (54%).
About one-third of Americans (36%) will always or usually check a new doctor’s credentials online before a first visit while 36% never or rarely do. 23% sometimes check. Greater shares of Americans 65 and older than adults under 30 say they always or usually check doctors' online references (40% vs. 29%). Americans without a college degree are about twice as likely as those with one to have never or rarely looked up a doctor’s credentials (43% vs. 23%).
Related:
- How much should doctors focus on the social determinants of health?
- Nearly half of women prefer being treated by a female doctor
- Do you trust your doctor?
- Women are more likely than men to be open to alternative medicine
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on June 21 - 24, 2024 among 1,200 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens.. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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