WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Julia Dvorak is worried her 83-year-old mother\u2019s emergency room trips for seizures are depleting her retirement savings and will soon force her to go on Medicaid. <\/p>\n
At the same time, Dvorak, who\u2019s 56 and suffers from a chronic knee condition that keeps her on state and federal assistance, expects her own health costs<\/a> to go up next year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of financial squeeze that has made health care a growing concern for Americans, according to a new AP-NORC poll that asked people to share their top priorities for the government to address in 2026.<\/p>\n The uptick on health care was much sharper than on other commonly mentioned issues. It comes after President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican administration reduced spending on Medicaid<\/a>, a safety net program for poor people, and decided to end coronavirus pandemic-era subsidies for the Affordable Care Act<\/a>, essentially guaranteeing that millions of people will see a steep rise in costs early next year. <\/p>\n The changes could return health care to center stage in next year\u2019s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cI see how it affects me and my loved ones,\u201d Dvorak, who lives outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said about the cost of health care. \u201cBut I also know it\u2019s affecting other people, and it\u2019s getting worse.\u201d <\/p>\n Despite the spike in health care concerns, immigration and broader worries about rising costs remain pressing issues, according to the December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a>. <\/p>\n But Americans are also less confident that the government will be able to make progress on the important problems facing the country in 2026. About 66% of U.S. adults say they are \u201cslightly\u201d or \u201cnot at all confident,\u201d down from 58% last year. <\/p>\n More Americans are focused on health care concerns<\/p>\n About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named health care or health issues in an open-ended question that asked respondents to share up to five issues they want the government to work on in the coming year. That\u2019s up from about one-third last year.<\/p>\n The high cost of health care came as a shock to Republican Joshua Campbell when he and his wife recently sought a medical plan for their young daughter. The 38-year-old small business owner from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, voted for Trump last year, and he mostly approves of the way Trump is handling his job, particularly on immigration. But health care expenses have become a major priority for him going into 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cHealth care costs are pretty crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cI just thought, \u2018Man, there\u2019s got to be something better than what we have.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Health care is a particularly high concern for adults between the ages of 45 and 59 \u2014 people who may have higher health care costs than younger adults but aren\u2019t yet eligible for Medicare.<\/p>\n The poll shows a similar landscape to the one Trump faced at the end of his first year in office during his first term, when health care reform was at the top of many Americans\u2019 minds. But Trump has an added complication now. At the end of 2017, very few mentioned cost of living concerns<\/a> \u2014 now, about one-third do.<\/p>\n Campbell described his politics as conservative, and while he recalled viewing the Affordable Care Act somewhat negatively when it first passed, he said he now views it as a step toward helping improve health care.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think they were at least trying, and at least trying to do something,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t really see that \u2014 it\u2019s one of the things from the Republican Party as well that I don\u2019t necessarily agree with. Or I think that they should be doing better at.\u201d<\/p>\n Cost and inflation concerns remain pressing<\/p>\n Inflation and the high cost of living<\/a> have been a top priority for many Americans since the end of 2021. Tommy Carosone is reminded every time his wife returns from the grocery store, especially with their two kids, both teenagers, still at home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife is spending so much more money on groceries than just a few years ago. Every time she comes home from the grocery store, I hear about it,\u201d said Carosone, from St. Peter\u2019s, Missouri. \u201cShe tells me it\u2019s stupid expensive, especially meat. Ground beef, bacon, anything from the deli. It\u2019s outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n The 44-year-old jet aircraft mechanic, the sole wage earner for his family of four, doesn\u2019t see the cost of living coming down any time soon. He voted for Trump and generally agrees with his tariff agenda<\/a> as a way to make the U.S. more competitive, and he figures prices will stay higher until the trade war ends. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the meantime, what are you going to do, not eat?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Carosone said he is glad he voted for Trump and had been concerned before Trump took office again about illegal immigration<\/a>. But it doesn\u2019t register even as a top priority for him now, in light of action the administration is taking.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot better,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really one of the main concerns I have now. I mean, don\u2019t stop. That\u2019s for sure. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that\u2019s a top concern.\u201d<\/p>\n About 2 in 10 U.S. adults want the federal government to focus on housing costs next year. That issue has been rising in recent years, with young adults being especially likely to mention it. About one-quarter of adults under age 30 want the government to focus on housing expenses, compared with about 1 in 10 of those 60 or older.<\/p>\n Immigration worries rise slightly among Democrats, decline among Republicans<\/p>\n Many Americans were hoping Trump would bring a hard-line approach to immigration<\/a> when he returned to the White House in January.<\/p>\n