Jazmin Evans, a student at Temple University, has readings taken during a checkup at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia on Feb. 16, 2024. Evans had been waiting for a new kidney for four years when her hospital revealed shocking news: She should have been put on the transplant list in 2015 instead of 2019 — and a racially biased organ test was to blame. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
Tassanee Vejpongsa / Associated Press
Tassanee Vejpongsa / Associated Press
Jazmin Evans, a student at Temple University, has readings taken during a checkup at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia on Feb. 16, 2024. Evans had been waiting for a new kidney for four years when her hospital revealed shocking news: She should have been put on the transplant list in 2015 instead of 2019 — and a racially biased organ test was to blame. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
This article was originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
A new survey shows Pennsylvanians are expressing more dissatisfaction with the quality of healthcare in the commonwealth than any year since 2019, when the question was first added to the poll.
While 50% of respondents rated healthcare in the state good or excellent, 45% said it was fair or poor.
The findings are part of an annual survey conducted by the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion and Muhlenberg College Public Health program. Five-hundred adult residents of Pennsylvania were surveyed between March 10 and March 17, with responses weighted by gender, age, race and educational attainment to reflect the population of the state in 2026.
Asked about the greatest threat to public health in the state, 21% of respondents said access or cost. It was the most common answer aside from “not sure,” also at 21%.
The second most common response, at 9% of those surveyed, was President Donald Trump, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Republicans.
Eight percent cited infrastructure or access to hospitals and doctors. Another 7% cited politics or recent policy shifts.
Just over one in four people surveyed said they or someone in their household struggled to access care in the last year due to cost.
The survey documented several other notable changes in public opinion in the most recent year.
A record number of respondents said they either strongly or somewhat agreed with the unsubstantiated claim children can get autism from vaccines. The theory has been popularized by Kennedy, a vocal vaccine skeptic for years, but debunked by multiple studies and refuted by key medical groups like the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Autism Science Foundation.
The number of respondents who somewhat or strongly agreed to the claim about vaccines and autism, 37%, was the highest recorded in the survey’s 14-year history. It represents a sharp 25 point jump from five years earlier. In 2021, 11% of respondents somewhat or strongly agreed.
Forty-four percent identified politics as a “major source” of stress in their lives, a sharp jump from the 32% or respondents that said the same in 2025.
The number of respondents who see climate change as a crisis has also grown to a record 44%, though responses were partisan. Sixty-six percent of Democrats and 57% of independents said climate change was a crisis. Only 12% of Republicans said the same.
The survey also found nearly twice as many adult Pennsylvanians (47%) support the legalization of cannabis as oppose it (25%).
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
