Healthcare affordability is a top voter issue in the 2024 presidential election

SDI Productions/Getty Images

Healthcare affordability, along with inflation, are the top issues voters would like the presidential candidates to discuss heading into the 2024 election, according to a new KFF tracking poll.

Regardless of party affiliation, three in four adults (74%) said they worry about being able to afford healthcare, according to the report. Just over half (55%) said they worry about being able to afford their prescription drugs. 

About half of insured adults (48%) said they worry about being able to afford their monthly health insurance premium.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Heading into the election, voters want to hear candidates talk about the economy and healthcare costs. At least 8 in ten voters said it is "very important" for the 2024 presidential candidates to talk about inflation (83%) and the affordability of healthcare (80%). 

Following inflation and healthcare affordability, about 7 in ten voters say it is "very important" to hear presidential candidates talk about the future of Medicare (73%), the future of democracy (72%) and immigration (69%).

The Affordable Care Act continues to be more popular than it was prior to Republican attempts to repeal it in 2017. About three in four Democrats want the next presidential administration and Congress to expand what the law does (77%), while about two-thirds of Republicans either want the law to be scaled back (23%) or repealed entirely (39%). A majority of independents want the law to be expanded (48%) or kept as is (18%).

One of the most consistently popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act is its protections for people with pre-existing conditions, according to the report. Most adults across partisan boundaries said it is very important that the aspects of the law that prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage due to someone's medical history (67%) and that prevent health insurance companies from charging sick people higher premiums (65%) remain law. However, few people polled were aware these provisions are in the ACA.

Knowledge among the public is low regarding the Affordable Care Act's impact on lowering the rate of uninsured and the all-time-high rate of enrollees during the recent open enrollment period. One-third (35%) of adults – rising to about half (48%) of Democrats – correctly said that since the ACA was passed in 2010, the uninsured rate in the U.S. has decreased. A similar share (34%) correctly said that more people signed up in this enrollment period than in past years.

THE LARGER TREND

With healthcare affordability topping the list of issues voters want to hear about and leading the list of financial worries, the latest KFF Tracking Poll suggests neither President Biden nor former President Trump has a clear advantage on this issue, but Republicans give Trump higher marks on this issue than Democrats give Biden. Trump may be reaping the benefits of the retrospective views of voters, whereas criticism of Biden may be more reflective of voters' general dissatisfaction with the current state of the national economy, the report said.

In November of last year, former President Trump reignited the conversation of replacing the Affordable Care Act if elected president, an issue that was a key issue for Republicans in past presidential elections.

The healthcare law, enacted under the Obama Administration in 2010, has consistently garnered more support than opposition since 2018, KFF said.

Building on the ACA has been a focal point of President Biden's healthcare agenda. However, the people polled do not associate President Biden with playing a major role in the passage of the ACA, which was signed into law when he was vice president.

Most voters (67%) rate the national economy as "not so good" or "poor." Their assessment of the economy is largely influenced by their perceptions of their own costs, and majorities describe the economy negatively due to the cost of everyday expenses (64%), inflation (63%), the cost of housing (57%) or the cost of healthcare (48%).

Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org