New PES survey: Out-of-pocket costs lead key health care priorities ahead of the November election

Americans’ experience with the health care system continues to be defined by access and affordability challenges, and specifically, insurer- and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM)-imposed hurdles. As the fifth Patient Experience Survey (PES) from PhRMA/Ipsos reports, patients demand greater urgency in making meaningful strides toward affordable, accessible health care.

Here are three things to know about patients’ key health care priorities ahead of the November election:

1. Health care out-of-pocket costs are the most important and concerning health care issue.

While health care is not a top issue overall, the health care priority for insured Americans is clear: out-of-pocket costs (32% of insured Americans selected). And more than half (52%) of insured Americans express concern about their ability to afford their out-of-pocket costs. 

2. Americans want policymaker action to ease access and affordability challenges.

Reducing inefficiency and bureaucracy (80%), while reining in costs (78%), are top issues that insured Americans specifically want candidates to address. Support is higher among some of the most vulnerable patients in the health system. Insured Americans managing chronic conditions (87% and 85%, respectively) and insured Americans aged 65+ (90% and 87%, respectively) are more likely to prioritize these issues.

3. Americans support policy solutions that increase accountability and transparency across health care and lower patient out-of-pocket costs.

Consequently, support is widespread on multiple policy solutions to address out-of-pocket costs, including setting a maximum limit for what patients pay out of pocket for their medicines each year (88%) and ensuring health insurers and PBMs pass on any rebates or discounts, so patients pay less out-of-pocket for their medicines (91%) — with support for both up significantly from the previous PES (84% and 89%, respectively). 

Bottom line: Nine in 10 (89%) insured Americans say that health care should not be a partisan issue, yet 85% believe that policymakers have made it so. Moving forward, policymakers should make sure they understand the real access and affordability challenges patients experience to craft solutions that lead to meaningful, lasting change.

Learn more from the latest PES here and find more patient-centered solutions at PhRMA.org/Middlemen.

PhRMA’s Patient Experience Survey is a research initiative to explore the challenges Americans face as they navigate the health care system. The poll was conducted among 2,592 American adults (age 18 or older), including 2,397 with insurance, from July 19 – August 1, 2024, using Ipsos’ probability-based KnowledgePanel®, and it is representative of the American adult population. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults.