By Glynn Wilson –

As the Trump administration prepares to fight in court to gut existing health care for millions of Americans by invalidating the Affordable Care Act, and Democrats prepare to campaign in 2020 on health care as a key priority, Gallup’s annual survey of the chief problems of concern to Americans shows once again that health care is at the top of the list.

A solid majority of 55 percent of Americans name the availability of affordable health care as their top concern for the fifth year in a row, according to the new Gallup poll, and 80 percent say they worry a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about it.

A majority of Americans have said they worry a great deal about healthcare in each of the 18 years the question has been asked since 2001, according to Gallup, more than twice as often as any of the other 12 issues most often measured.

“The consistency of concern about healthcare stands in contrast to the other economic issues that dominated Gallup’s list of worries in 2010 and 2011, as the nation began its climb out of the 2008-2009 (Bush) Great Recession,” Gallup says in its analysis. “The percentage of Americans who worried a great deal about the economy reached its highest point, 71 percent, in 2011 and 2012. The percentage worrying a great deal about the availability and affordability of healthcare has held steady.”

Now only 33 percent name the economy as the top concern, yet Americans are still worried about the related issues of federal spending and the deficit (50%), hunger and homelessness (49%), the future of Social Security (41%), and unemployment (23%).

Even more people, 47 percent, name the quality of the environment as a top concern, and 73 percent say they worry a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about the quality of the environment, an issue that did not seem to hold much interest for the authors of Gallup’s analysis.

“The persistence of Americans’ concern about healthcare has not escaped the attention of politicians,” Gallup says. “The issue has been at the forefront of national politics over the past two decades — even after Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, passed the landmark Affordable Care Act in 2010. Republican lawmakers have made numerous unsuccessful attempts to repeal it — and at least one successful attempt to modify it — in the years since it took effect.”

The political fight has intensified in recent weeks, with new initiatives from both parties.

More than 100 Democrats backed a new “Medicare for All” bill introduced in the House Feb. 27. The bill, pushed by the progressive wing of the party, would create a single-payer, government-funded healthcare program within two years.

President Donald Trump last week renewed his attempt to overthrow Obamacare through the administration’s Justice Department. A letter from the department filed last Monday says it backs a federal judge’s ruling in December that the Affordable Care Act violated the U.S. Constitution because it required people to buy health insurance.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the Democrats’ new healthcare plan last week. Its major goals include lowering health insurance premiums, strengthening protections for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions and instituting a ban on what Democrats term “junk insurance” — insurance policies that would not be required to cover maternity care, prescription drugs or those with pre-existing conditions.

Gallup’s Bottom Line

“Over the past 19 years, majorities have on multiple occasions expressed a great deal of worry about such key economic issues as the overall economy, unemployment, the Social Security system, federal spending or the budget deficit,” Gallup says. “A few other issues — drug use, terrorism, guns — have seen a majority express a great deal of concern a single time. But none of these issues have come close to producing the consistently high levels of worry Americans have shown about their healthcare.”

“Attempts by both Democrats and Republicans to create a trustworthy healthcare system have so far failed to quell Americans’ concerns — even when the political efforts produced groundbreaking legislation,” Gallup says. “Those concerns are unlikely to abate until changes are made that produce results that most Americans clearly and concretely feel in their daily dealings with the issue.”