In addition to open-ended questions, we also ask the public how important it is for the President and Congress to deal with several specific health care issues. In each case, a majority of adults say the specific issue is “very important”. However, when asked to choose the most important issue, around one-quarter each say increasing the number of insured Americans (26%), and lowering the cost of health care and insurance (25%). Lowering the cost of prescription drugs ranks third with 15% naming it as the top priority.

Smaller shares say reducing medical errors (8%), reforming the Medicaid system (7%), reforming the medical malpractice system (6%), or assuring the smooth implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit (2%) is the most important health issue for the President and Congress to address.