Gabriel Drapper, who currently does not have health insurance, checks his pulse and blood pressure at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) mobile dental clinic at Terre Haute South High School on August 2, 2025 in Terre Haute, Indiana (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A novel survey shows Pennsylvanians express more dissatisfaction with the quality of health care in the commonwealth than in any year since 2019, when the question was first added to the survey.
While 50% of respondents rated the state’s health care as good or excellent, 45% said it was fair or penniless.
The results form part of the annual report questionnaire hosted by the Muhlenberg College Public Opinion Institute and the Muhlenberg College Public Health Program. Five hundred adult Pennsylvanians were surveyed March 10-17, with responses weighted by gender, age, race and education level to reflect the state’s 2026 population.
When asked about the biggest public health risk in the state, 21% of respondents said access or cost. Apart from “I’m not sure”, this was the most common answer – also 21%.
The second most common response (9% of respondents) was President Donald Trump, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or republicans.
Eight percent cited infrastructure or access to hospitals and doctors. Another 7% mentioned policy or recent policy changes.
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Just over a quarter of people surveyed said that they or someone in their household had difficulty accessing care in the last year due to cost.
The study documented several other significant changes in public opinion that have occurred over the past year.
A record number of respondents said they strongly or somewhat agreed with the unfounded claim that children can develop autism from vaccinations. The theory was popularized by Kennedy, a staunch vaccine skeptic for years, but… disproven by numerous studies and debunked by key medical groups such as World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics AND Autism Science Foundation.
The number of respondents who somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement about vaccines and autism (37%) was the highest recorded in the survey’s 14-year history. This represents a pointed jump of 25 points compared to five years ago. In 2021, 11% of respondents somewhat or strongly agreed with this opinion.
Forty-four percent described politics as a “major source” of stress in their lives, a pointed enhance from the 32% of respondents who said the same in 2025.
The number of respondents who see climate change as a crisis also rose to a record 44%, although their responses were biased. Sixty-six percent of Democrats and 57% of independents said climate change is a crisis. Only 12% of Republicans said the same.
The survey also found that nearly twice as many Pennsylvania adults (47%) support cannabis legalization as oppose it (25%).
