Kaiser releases August 2016 Health Tracking Poll

The Kaiser Family Foundation released the findings of its August 2016 Health Tracking Poll today.

Among its findings were voters' concerns regarding health care and the ability of the presidential candidates to address access and affordability and Medicare topics.

While health care generally takes a back seat to other discussions during presidential campaigns, two-thirds of voters believe that the candidates should address the accessibility and affordability of health care and Medicare. Medicaid is also a concern for 54 percent of voters, while prescription drug costs and the health care law follow closely behind, at 53 and 52 percent, respectively. Other top health news stories, such as the opioid epidemic, reproductive health access for women, the Zika virus and HIV/AIDS are of less concern to voters.

In general, voters put a greater trust in Hillary Clinton than in Donald Trump regarding health issues, particularly concerning women's access to reproductive health services. Within each party, the voters followed party lines when asked about trust in the candidates and the top health topics, with Clinton leading Democrats with 88 percent to 94 percent and Trump leading the Republicans with 61percent to 80 percent of the party's voters. Independent voters were fairly evenly split, with the exception of women's access to reproductive health services. Independents favored Clinton over Trump at 60 percent versus 30 percent.

Americans are also concerned about online medical records. While most agree that maintaining electronic records are important, of the eight out of 10 who have some or all medical records and personal health information online, 60 percent are concerned about the privacy and security of their records.

While concerned about health care topics, the primary news stories the respondents followed in August were about ISIS and Islamic militant groups, the presidential campaigns and the flooding in Louisiana. The Zika outbreak, Summer Olympics, opioid addiction epidemic and Affordable Care Act (ACA) topics were of lesser concern.