Most Americans Expect Health Care to Get Worse

Voters are more negative than ever about the state of the U.S. health care system, and once again a majority believes the new national health care law will make it worse.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% of likely U.S. voters rate the current health care system as good or excellent. Thirty-five percent (35%) describe the system as poor, up from 31% in May and the highest negative in regular tracking since November 2012.

Just 28% now expect the health care system to get better under the health care law, down from last month’s high of 36% but more consistent with findings earlier in the year. Fifty-one percent (51%) think the system will get worse under the law, up from 48% a month ago. Fifteen percent (15%) believe the health care system will remain about the same. One year ago, 57% expected the health care system to get worse under the law.

However, 79% of voters rate the overall quality of health care they now receive as good or excellent, while just 4% view that care as poor. These findings have changed little over the past year-and-a-half.

Rasmussen Reports conducted the survey of 1,000 likely voters on June 20-21, 2014.