94% of Americans say Congress must act on health care costs

Washington, D.C. – A new national poll shows that 94% of Americans believe it is important for the President and Congress to take action to lower health care costs. The poll was commissioned by Families USA, the longtime national nonpartisan health care consumer advocacy group, which today convened a Health Care Affordability Symposium in Washington, D.C., to showcase the broad bipartisan support for policies to address health care affordability. The symposium, featuring policy experts, Capitol Hill staff from both parties, a senior Trump administration official, and consumer advocates, previewed a week of markups in key Congressional Committees to consider such policy proposals.

The new polling, conducted in July 2026 among 1,000 national survey respondents, found that once again health care is the top concern among Americans, and a near unanimous response from the survey — 94% — believe Congress and the President must take action to lower health care costs now.

Health care ranks as the public’s top priority above housing, immigration, taxes, jobs, and crime, and the poll also finds growing frustration with hospital pricing and industry consolidation. In fact, 81% of respondents believe the fees and prices charged by hospitals are unreasonable, and that Americans are deeply skeptical of hospital consolidation: 58% believe that when an independent hospital becomes part of a larger hospital system, prices will increase and care will not improve, while just 6% believe prices will decrease and care will get better.

“Americans are angry about health care prices that are not just high, but inflated and irrational. In a nation divided on seemingly everything, the demand that the President and Congress act on addressing health care costs unites 94% of Americans from all walks of life and every corner of the country,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA.

Panels throughout the symposium examined concrete legislative proposals — including efforts to strengthen hospital price transparency, rein in prescription drug patent abuse, and reform Medicare Advantage payment and oversight — with Republican and Democratic voices largely finding common ground on the need for reform.

These conversations were extremely timely, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to start marking up legislation later this afternoon, including the Lower Cost, More Transparency Act of 2026, a hospital price transparency bill that would require prices in dollars and cents, not ranges or percentages, a strengthening of current transparency rules that Families USA has long advocated for. Later this week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is also expected to mark up the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, similar legislation with even stronger guardrails to prevent loopholes.

“Our new polling shows people are ahead of the politicians on these issues and are keenly aware of where the problem lies: 81% of Americans say hospital prices are unreasonable. And as consolidation continues and prices worsen, those poll numbers will only continue to grow – along with the collective anger of the American people. There is real momentum to move price transparency across the finish line and it’s time for Congress to step up and act. While transparency alone will not lower prices, it’s a meaningful step in the right direction to take on the corporate greed driving our affordability crisis,” said Sophia Tripoli, Senior Director of Health Policy at Families USA. “We brought together national experts, Congressional and CMS staff, and advocates from different parts of the ideological spectrum today to show the broad agreement on some of the most pressing policy solutions to lower health care costs. The American people are begging for action. Congress must act to hold corporate health plans and systems and drug companies accountable for charging the American people excessive health care prices.”

In his remarks, Wright emphasized that today’s momentum, while significant, is only a piece of a much larger fight. He continued the call for accountability — both from Congress to follow through on the bipartisan proposals rather than let them stall, and from health care corporations, whose pricing and practices remain a key driver of rising costs for patients and families.

Symposium speakers included Alec Aramanda of CMS's Center for Medicare; congressional health policy staff representing Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS); and policy experts from the Center for American Progress, AARP, the American Enterprise Institute/MedPAC, West Health, Arnold Ventures, and PatientRightsAdvocate.Org, alongside Families USA leadership and board members.

Today’s event launched Families USA’s Health Care Affordability Week of Action — a week of advocacy including a Digital Day of Action on Tuesday, July 21, and two days of Hill meetings with Members of Congress later in the week.