Poll assesses healthcare in the U.S.

Gallup and West Health, two major polling organizations, tell us that 38% of respondents to a recent poll—representing around 100 million Americans - characterized the for-profit U.S. healthcare system as either "expensive" or "broken." 94% of Americans believe the cost of healthcare in the U.S. is "higher than it should be."

Two years ago things looked different. Close to half of Americans (48%) believed the quality of care found in the U.S. was either 'the best in the world' (13%) or 'among the very best' (36%). This was two-and-a-half times the 18% who reported that the quality of care was either 'the worst in the world' (3%) or 'among the worst' (16%)."

Money is a problem; nearly a third of U.S. adults report that they could not afford quality healthcare if they needed it today, up from 18% in February. One in 20 respondents—representing around 12.7 million people—told Gallup and West Health that a friend or family member died over the past year after not receiving treatment because they couldn't afford it.