“Americans have mixed assessments about the overall value of medical treatments today, even while a strong majority says science has generally improved the quality of U.S. health care, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey,” write Isadora Milanez and Mark Strauss on the Pew Research blog. “At the same time, a substantial majority considers quality health care unaffordable. Overall, 48% of U.S. adults say medical treatments are ‘worth the costs because they allow people to live longer and better quality lives,’ while a similar share (51%) says such treatments ‘often create as many problems as they solve.’ The survey also finds that 90% of Americans believe science has had a mostly positive effect on the quality of health care. … While Americans are closely divided in their views of the overall value of medical treatments, a majority of Americans (83%), regardless of their income, say a big problem is that the high cost of medical treatments makes quality care unaffordable. Just 14% say cost is a small problem and 3% say it is not a problem.” Isadora Milanez and Mark Strauss, “Most in US say high costs of medical treatments are a big problem,” Pew Research Center.
