What Americans think about rising health care costs, according to a new
AP-NORC poll
[October 21, 2025]
By ALI SWENSON and LINLEY SANDERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most U.S. adults are worried about health care
becoming more expensive, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as they make
decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown
keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.
About 6 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their
health costs going up in the next year, the survey from The Associated
Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds — a worry that
extends across age groups and includes people with and without health
insurance.
Many Americans have other health care anxieties, too. The poll found
that about 4 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about
not being able to pay for health care or medications they need, not
being able to access health care when they need it, or losing or not
having health insurance.
Medicare beneficiaries are already shopping for next year’s coverage,
and open enrollment periods for many other health plans are approaching
quickly in November. Federal policies have left millions of people at
risk of skyrocketing health insurance premiums or of losing their health
insurance altogether. The findings show that many Americans are feeling
vulnerable to spiking health care costs, with some expressing concerns
about whether they'll have coverage at all.
Latoya Wilson, an independent nurse consultant in Lafayette, Louisiana,
currently uses a health insurance plan from the Affordable Care Act
marketplace. But in the past two weeks, the 46-year-old has applied for
more jobs than she had previously in her life, largely because she’s
concerned about her premiums going up and wants the stability of
employer-sponsored insurance.
“Even before these health care cuts came into play, I was already having
a significant issue getting the care that I needed this year,” she said.
“Anything worse than what I already have is pretty scary.”
Health care remains important to Americans when it’s center stage in
Washington
About 8 in 10 U.S. adults say the issue of health care is “extremely” or
“very” important to them personally. That includes about 9 in 10
Democrats and three-quarters of Republicans, and it puts health care
next to the economy among Americans' top issue priorities.
That significant attention on the issue raises the political stakes in
what's already been a crucial moment for federal health policy in the
nation's capital.
President Donald Trump’s mega-bill passed this summer cuts more than $1
trillion from federal health care and food assistance over a decade,
largely by imposing work requirements on those receiving aid and by
shifting certain federal costs onto the states. Republicans say the cuts
will prevent people who don't need aid from gaming the system, but the
cuts will ultimately result in millions of people losing health
insurance coverage, according to projections from the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office.
More urgently, a congressional deadlock over Affordable Care Act
subsidies that expire this year has thrown the federal government into a
shutdown that’s dragged into a fourth straight week with no end in
sight. Democratic lawmakers want any funding bill they sign to extend
the subsidies, which have made ACA premiums less expensive for millions
of people. Republicans in Congress have expressed willingness to
negotiate on the issue, but only after the government is reopened.
In interviews, some Americans said they doubted government leaders would
take the necessary action to address their concerns on health care.
“It is the federal government’s job to provide a better way of life for
its people,” said Caleb Richter, a 30-year-old certified nursing
assistant in Belleville, Wisconsin, who identifies as an independent.
”Right now, it just feels like they’re not trying.”
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Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website
healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19,
2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
 But the poll reveals a deep
ideological divide over what the government's role should be, with
Democrats far more likely than Republicans to say it’s the federal
government’s job to make sure all Americans have health coverage.
About 8 in 10 Democrats say this, compared with about one-third of
Republicans.
Most US adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of health care, the
poll finds
Health care continues to be a weakness for Trump. Only about 3 in 10
U.S. adults approve of the Republican president's handling of health
care, which hasn't changed meaningfully since September. Almost all
Democrats disapprove of his approach, but so do about 8 in 10
independents and about one-third of Republicans.
Wilson, a Democrat, said she thinks Trump should be “doing things
that affect the good of the group” when it comes to health care,
including catering more to working-class Americans.
But Michelle Truszkowski, a disabled veteran in Sterling Heights,
Michigan, who is politically conservative, said she appreciates how
Trump is focused on cutting fraud and abuse in the health care
system.
“I like that people who shouldn’t be getting benefits from the
government are getting kicked off of them,” the 48-year-old said.
“Health care is not a right. It’s a privilege.”
Democrats trusted more than Republicans on health care, but many
trust neither
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they trust the Democrats to do a
better job handling health care, compared with about one-quarter who
trust the Republicans more. About one-quarter trust neither party,
and about 1 in 10 trust both equally.
Americans are more likely to trust their own party on health care,
generally speaking, but 76% of Democrats trust their party more on
health care, while only 57% of Republicans have more trust in
theirs.
Independents are especially likely to trust neither party on health
care — about half of independents say this. But the remaining
independents are more likely to trust the Democrats.
Richter, in Wisconsin, said he wishes Congress would put more faith
and funding into hospital staffers who know how to help patients. He
said he'd be fine with paying higher taxes if it meant ensuring
health care for people who need it.
But instead of working toward solutions, he said, federal lawmakers
are acting “like a bunch of high school kids arguing.”
“My faith that something will get done is very, very low at this
point," Richter said. “It just feels like they don’t really care."
___
Swenson reported from New York.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13, using a
sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which
is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin
of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage
points.
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