Survey Reveals Americans Primarily Blame Insurers for Rising Healthcare Costs, Sparking Industry Debate

A newly released survey commissioned by the hospital-backed Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare (search)Search term reveals that Americans predominantly hold insurance companies responsible for the nation's escalating healthcare costs. The Morning Consult (search)Search term poll, fielded in May among 2,000 adults, found that 47% of respondents identify corporate health insurers as the principal driver of rising spending, while 36% point to the federal government and 34% blame drug companies.

The findings arrive against a backdrop of mounting financial strain on American households. U.S. health spending reached $5.3 trillion in 2024, a 7.2% increase from the prior year, according to the most recent government data. Healthcare now consumes 18% of the nation's gross domestic product, meaning nearly one in every five dollars in the U.S. economy flows into the healthcare industry.

Just under half of American adults report difficulty affording healthcare, according to health policy research firm KFF (search)Search term. The high cost burden has led one-third of Americans to skip or postpone necessary care, a pattern that can result in worse health outcomes and potentially more expensive medical bills over time. Approximately two in five adults—an estimated 100 million Americans—currently carry medical debt.

Insurer Groups Push Back

Influential insurance lobby AHIP (search)Search company sharply criticized the survey's methodology and framing. Chris Bond, a spokesperson for AHIP, characterized the poll as a "blatant attempt" by the hospital industry to deflect responsibility for rising prices.

"Hospital costs account for more than 40 cents of every premium dollar — more than any other category — and many hospital systems continue to raise their prices at rates that dwarf inflation while also sticking patients with layers of opaque fees," Bond said. "Instead of looking around for someone else to blame, the hospital industry should stop their anticompetitive consolidation, opaque billing practices and unaffordable price hikes that continue to drive Americans' premium costs higher."

AHIP (search)Search company further argued that the survey includes descriptions and questions "highly skewed against insurers" and does not ask respondents their perspective on issues such as hospital pricing.

Hospitals Acknowledge Their Role

Hospitals have recently acknowledged the part they play in driving up spending, though they argue that escalating hospital costs reflect patient demand, growing regulatory compliance spending, and sharp increases in labor and supply costs. The American Hospital Association (search)Search term wrote in a recent affordability report that "delivering on their unique promise to always be there to care requires resources," while maintaining that hospitals "remain deeply committed to making health care more affordable."

Broader Polling Shows Bipartisan Concern

Separate polling data from the Century Foundation (search)Search term underscores the breadth of bipartisan concern about healthcare affordability. Two-thirds of voters said the federal government should make "stopping hospitals from charging excessive prices" their top priority—more than any other policy proposal tested. Support for reining in hospital prices cuts across partisan and demographic lines, including 71% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans, and 75% of rural voters.

Six in 10 voters identified reining in surprise medical billing by providers as a top priority, ranking second among all proposals tested.

Policy Solutions Under Consideration

Policymakers and experts across the political spectrum are increasingly spotlighting cost drivers such as hospitals' high prices, anticompetitive consolidation, and opaque billing practices, along with private equity's growing role in healthcare and drugmakers' pricing practices.

Proposed bipartisan solutions include promoting hospital competition by stopping anti-competitive mergers that raise prices and reduce consumer choice, passing site-neutral payment reforms so patients are not forced to pay more for the same service delivered in a hospital-owned setting, strengthening enforcement of surprise billing protections, and curbing pharmaceutical patent abuse while reining in brand drugmakers' direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns.

The blame game among healthcare stakeholders has intensified as hospitals, insurers, and drugmakers seek to divert the attention of regulators and lawmakers hunting for areas to reform, particularly ahead of November's midterm elections. Experts note that while insurers may not be the root cause of growing spending, they certainly play a role in the broader affordability crisis.