Consumer Attitudes Toward Physicians and the U.S. Healthcare System

New Survey Finds Nearly 80 Percent of U.S. Patients “Extremely or Very Satisfied” With Primary Care Physician Visits

Insights From the Physicians Foundation Survey Shows Majority of Consumers Feel Negative About Future of U.S. Healthcare System

Executive Summary: Seventy-nine percent of consumers who visited their family doctor or primary care physician (PCP) at least once in the past year said they were “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with the visits, according to a new consumer survey by The Physicians Foundation. 

Despite the high level of satisfaction with their physicians, consumers are considerably more pessimistic about the direction of healthcare. A majority of respondents (53 percent) are negative about the future of healthcare in the U.S., versus 22 percent who are positive. Consumers are also pessimistic about insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Approximately three-quarters of respondents who have a family doctor or PCP said that insurance companies and pharmaceutical / drug companies are “very” or “completely responsible” for rising healthcare costs, and more than half (55 percent) feel the insurance companies are negatively impacting the quality of care.

The survey, conducted online for The Physicians Foundation by Harris Interactive in July 2012, surveyed more than 2,200 adults 18 years of age and over in the U.S., with more than 1,800 indicating that they have a family physician or PCP.

To access the full report on the survey, please click