A KFF poll found U.S. voters were equally likely to say they were very worried about health care and gas and transportation costs, while 82% said candidates should discuss health care as midterm elections approach.
One in four respondents selected the most severe worry level for affording health care, and the share was the same for gas and transportation. At the somewhat worried level, 35% cited health care costs and 34% cited gas and transportation. The survey showed similar concern levels for the two categories across both response groups.
KFF surveyed voters Sept. 16-21 and published the findings Oct. 6. In a separate question about candidate priorities, 90% rated the overall cost of living very or extremely important to discuss, while 82% gave that rating to health care costs. The poll measured personal financial worry and views on candidate discussion in separate questions.
When asked which party they trusted more to address health care costs, 42% chose Democrats and 22% chose Republicans. KFF said the Democratic advantage on that question widened from 11 percentage points in April to 20 points in September.
KFF President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman said large health care bills are less predictable, helping explain why they weigh on voters. CBS News also featured the poll in a video segment with medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder, who discussed the findings.
The results add a health care focus to EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of CBS polling on affordability and inflation, which examined a separate survey.
