--- title: Most Americans Say the Health Care System Fails Them description: More than 70% of U.S. adults say the health care system fails them in some way, according to data from the Harris Poll. canonical: https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-05-16T15:08:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:13.213Z article:section: Health og:title: Exclusive: More Than 70% of Americans Feel Failed by the Health Care System og:description: In a new Harris Poll survey, cost was the most common criticism og:url: https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Exclusive: More Than 70% of Americans Feel Failed by the Health Care System twitter:description: In a new Harris Poll survey, cost was the most common criticism twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Exclusive: More Than 70% of Americans Feel Failed by the Health Care System > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Don’t Use Artificial Sweeteners for Weight Loss, WHO Says [Watch (HLS stream): Don’t Use Artificial Sweeteners for Weight Loss, WHO Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tQEq3EOC.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2023-05-16. Artificial sweeteners may not help people lose weight, the World Health Organization said in new guidelines that warned against products like diet sodas._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 16, 2023 3:08 PM UTC  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 16, 2023 3:08 PM UTC More than 70% of U.S. adults feel the health care system is failing to meet their needs in at least one way, according to new [data from the Harris Poll](https://www.aapa.org/research/patient-experience/), shared exclusively with TIME. --- ### More from TIME --- Despite [spending more money per capita on health care](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/) than any other wealthy country in the world, the U.S. struggles to match other nations in [life expectancy and other health outcomes](https://time.com/6270808/americas-life-expectancy-divide/). The new Harris Poll survey, which was conducted from February to March 2023 and commissioned by the American Academy of Physician Associates, shows that [patient satisfaction is also suffering](https://time.com/6257775/patient-burnout-health-care/) due to the high costs, inaccessibility, and confusing logistics of U.S. medical care. More than half of the roughly 2,500 U.S. adults who took the survey graded the U.S. health care system a “C” or below. When asked about factors that prevent people in the U.S. from getting care, cost was the most common criticism, followed by the system’s focus on profits, inaccessibility of insurance coverage, and confusion around what is covered by insurance. Many respondents pointed to similar problems when asked about their own personal issues with the medical system. Only 27% of people who took the survey said the U.S. medical system meets all of their needs, while the rest listed complaints including how long it takes to get an appointment (31% of respondents), high costs (26%), limitations of insurance coverage (23%), and subpar focus on preventive care and wellness (19%). Those complaints seem to be keeping at least some would-be patients away from the doctor’s office. More than a fifth of people surveyed said they don’t see a single health care provider on a regular basis, and 44% said they’d [skipped or delayed needed care](https://time.com/5884236/coronavirus-pandemic-cancer-care/) in the past two years. Among those who skipped or delayed appointments, 40% said they did so because of costs, while 30% said they couldn’t take time away from work, family, or other obligations. The survey did, however, suggest some bright spots and paths forward. More than 75% of survey participants said that providers work with them to improve their health, more than 70% said they want stronger relationships with their providers, and more than 65% said they believe their health would improve if they regularly worked with a trusted provider—responses that suggest Americans haven’t totally given up on the system, despite their frustrations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/"},"headline":"Exclusive: More Than 70% of Americans Feel Failed by the Health Care System","datePublished":"2023-05-16T15:08:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:51:13.213Z","description":"In a new Harris Poll survey, cost was the most common criticism.","url":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/","keywords":["Health Care","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/","name":"Exclusive: More Than 70% of Americans Feel Failed by the Health Care System"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Don’t Use Artificial Sweeteners for Weight Loss, WHO Says","description":"Artificial sweeteners may not help people lose weight, the World Health Organization said in new guidelines that warned against products like diet sodas.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tQEq3EOC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-05-16T21:02:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tQEq3EOC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6279937/us-health-care-system-attitudes/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```