News and Reports | November 6, 2026
Polling shows overwhelming concern about healthcare costs, adding urgency for Congress to lower brand-name drug prices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the 2026 midterm elections and the prominence of healthcare and prescription drug affordability as a top concern, Patients For Affordable Drugs CEO Merith Basey released the following statement:
“Voters made it crystal clear at the ballot box that the high cost of healthcare is a top concern. Any substantive solution must include lowering brand-name prescription drug prices. As attention turns to end-of-year legislative vehicles and next year’s agenda, there’s overwhelming bipartisan support for reforms that lower drug prices, including measures that boost competition and crack down on pharma’s abuse of the patent system. Policymakers have an urgent responsibility to act; patients cannot wait.”
We saw this issue’s importance in the leadup to the election. Polling last month found that 34% of voters said healthcare costs are a primary issue driving their midterm vote. A KFF poll found that 60% of voters were worried about affording healthcare, and 82% said it’s extremely or very important for candidates to talk about healthcare costs.
This concern carried through to election day. NBC News exit polling and CNN voter polls both found that 85% of voters are concerned about the cost of healthcare. CNN also found that 61% believe the government’s role in helping Americans get healthcare should be larger.
Many solutions are already on the table. Bipartisan bills like the ETHIC Act, the Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act, and the Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act are before Congress, and there’s a time-sensitive opportunity to pass these reforms through an end-of-year package to further deliver for patients.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies that lower prescription drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients by amplifying their experiences with high drug prices to hold those in power to account and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org.