Public Puts COVID-19, Coverage Protections at the Top of Health Care To-Do List
December 2, 2020 at 3:18 pm ET
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73% of adults said managing COVID-19 should be a top priority for policymakers, including 60% of Republicans and 84% of Democrats.
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At least half of Democrats and Republicans said also lowering prescription drug costs and protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions should be top priorities.
After an election season centered largely on the coronavirus pandemic and health care, Americans have a new list of priorities for President-elect Joe Biden and the incoming Congress.
When it comes to health care, U.S. adults place managing COVID-19, protecting health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and lowering prescription drug costs at the top of the to-do list for the incoming Biden administration and Congress, according to a Morning Consult poll conducted Nov. 18-22. Yet the public isn’t very confident about policymakers’ ability to accomplish these goals, and partisan divides are stark.
For example, while 73 percent of Americans say managing the COVID-19 pandemic should be a top priority, 52 percent think the president-elect will “definitely” manage the pandemic, including about 3 in 4 Democrats and 1 in 4 Republicans.
“I’m not surprised to see coronavirus No. 1,” said Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. The end of the worst phase of the pandemic is now in sight, he noted, aided by vaccines and treatments that were launched under “the Trump administration, and the benefits will be felt in the Biden administration.”
Beyond COVID-19, Democrats and Republicans had different health care wish lists. For Democrats, coverage protections for people with pre-existing conditions, improving the Affordable Care Act and improving health disparities were the top priorities. Republicans put lowering prescription drug costs, coverage protections and ending surprise medical billing at the top of their to-do list, though they were less likely than Democrats to say any particular health issue in the survey should be prioritized by the Biden administration and Congress.
The office of Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees Medicare and influences health policy, declined to comment on the survey findings.
Lowering prescription drug costs was one of the…
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