In January 2003, three-quarters (74%) of Americans said that the issue of medical malpractice insurance was at least a “major problem”, including nearly two in ten (18%) who said the issue was a “crisis”. More than half (56%) said it was a “major problem”, and another two in ten (22%) said it was a “minor problem”. Only two percent said that the issue of medical malpractice insurance was not a problem at all in health care today.

In August 2005, while more than half (54%) said reforming the medical malpractice system was a “very” important issue for government to deal with (data not shown), fewer than one in ten (6%) chose this as the most important priority when asked to choose between a list of health issues before the President and Congress.