Americans support U.S. pharmaceutical leadership and the need for affordable access
Washington DC, February 17, 2026 — The latest PhRMA/Ipsos Patient Experience Survey finds that majorities of Americans agree it is important for the United States to be the global leader in developing new medicines – and recognize the benefits of a strong U.S. pharmaceutical industry, including job creation, access to medicines and treatment, and national security.
In addition, more than half of insured Americans express concern about their ability to afford out-of-pocket costs and health insurance premiums. Further, large majorities of insured Americans support policies aimed at reducing patient health care costs, such as capping out-of-pocket Rx expenses, and express interest in purchasing medicines directly from manufacturers without the middleman markups.
This survey was conducted by Ipsos between January 16-23, 2026, among 2,141 adults ages 18+, including 1,929 insured adults.
1. Americans value U.S. pharmaceutical leadership.
- Four in five Americans believe it is important that the United States is the global leader in developing new medicines (79%).
- Americans recognize that a strong pharmaceutical industry offers a range of benefits. For instance, 87% agree that if they got very sick, they would want to be treated in the U.S., including 57% who strongly agree.
- Similarly, 90% believe developing new medicines is very or somewhat important to U.S. success and 83% believe manufacturing medicines in the U.S. is important to U.S. success.
- Meanwhile, 86% say the United States should invest in pharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing because it creates good jobs, while 82% say strong pharmaceutical leadership protects the U.S. from becoming dependent on other countries for medicines.
- Majorities of Americans say that if the U.S. loses ground on innovation, there will likely be slower access to new medicines for American patients (78%), the U.S. will become dependent on foreign countries for medicines (77%), and the U.S. will have a weaker response to pandemics and public health emergencies (74%).
- Further, data suggests that barriers to patient access are a big concern and come in many forms, including affordability challenges.
2. Health insurance coverage costs and insurance-related barriers to care are problems to solve.
- Among insured Americans, more than half say they are very or somewhat concerned about their ability to afford out-of-pocket health care costs (56%), ranking alongside monthly groceries (56%) and health insurance premiums (54%) as top affordability concerns.
- At the same time, out-of-pocket health care costs (34%) and health insurance premiums (33%) rank as the top-two most important health care issues to insured Americans.
- Half (50%) of insured Americans report an increase in premiums over the past 12 months – an average of $117 per month among those who saw an increase.
- Relatedly, nearly 1 in 5 (17%) insured Americans report having outstanding medical debt – typically stemming from hospital and doctor bills, as well as diagnostic tests.
- Besides affordability concerns, insured Americans also face hurdles when trying to access their care. More than two in five (44%) report that they or a family member experienced an insurance-imposed barrier to care (such as prior authorization) in the last year.
- Many feel health insurance companies prioritize profits over care, with 64% insured Americans saying their insurance company makes decisions that show more focus on its profits than their care.
- Similarly, health insurance companies are seen as most to blame for problems in the current health care system, with 41% of insured Americans viewing health insurance companies as most responsible for these problems, compared to 38% who blame the federal government, 8% who blame prescription drug companies, and 6% who blame hospitals and health systems.
3. Insured Americans want a system that works for them.
- Roughly nine in ten insured Americans support policies that put patients first at the pharmacy counter, such as passing pharmaceutical company rebates directly to consumers (90%) and capping out-of-pocket Rx costs (87%).
- Further, insured Americans support policies that reward innovation and deliver value. For example, 89% support faster approval of and expanded access to lower-cost generics.
- Nearly four in five (77%) insured Americans express interest in new websites that will allow patients to purchase medicines directly from manufacturers without the middleman markups, while even more (85%) say they would likely purchase medicines from these websites if it meant lower prescription drug costs.
About the Study
The Patient Experience Survey (PES) is a robust and reliable data source on patient perceptions and behaviors around access to health care and prescription medicines. A literature review was conducted around existing and relevant academic surveys, which helped to inform the questionnaire design. The questionnaire was tested and refined through a series of cognitive pre-tests and in-depth interviews to ensure measurement validity and reliability.
The survey was conducted January 16th – January 23rd, 2026, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. The survey is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 2,141 adults aged 18 or older. The sample included 1,929 insured respondents who reported taking prescription medicines and 1,465 respondents who reported being insured.
The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. The recruitment process employs a scientifically developed address-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. As a result of the recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.
The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, Census region by metropolitan status, education, household income, race/ethnicity by gender, race/ethnicity by age, race/ethnicity by education, and English language proficiency. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2025 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) from the US Census Bureau, with the exception of the benchmarks for English language proficiency which were obtained from the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) from the US Census Bureau. The weighting categories were as follows:
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races Non-Hispanic)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) by Metropolitan Status (Metro, Non-Metro)
- Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White and Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Gender (Male, Female)
- Race/Hispanic (White and Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Age (18–44, 45+)
- Race/Hispanic (White and Other Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Hispanic) by Education (Less than Bachelor, Bachelor or higher)
- Language Proficiency (English Proficient, Bilingual, Spanish Proficient, non-Hispanic)
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.15 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults.
About Ipsos
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