Most health citizens in the U.S. trust the CDC, NIH, and FDA, and most people also want the 47th incoming President Donald Trump to strengthen health/care institutions — from the VA and FDA to Medicare, Medicaid, as well as the CDC and Affordable Care Act.

The Axios/Ipsos American Health Index, published this week, reveals both concurrence among U.S. health consumers with some striking differences across political party ID.

Axios and Ipsos fielded a survey among 1,002 U.S. adults in early December to glean peoples’ perspectives on health, trust, and a variety of health and social policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s start with the Index’s top-line and title of their study summary: that, “Most Americans favor strengthening health agencies.”

The Axios/Ipsos take is that, “Members of the new administration do not enter office with widespread public trust on issues of health.”

The first vertical bar chart captures the key trust-equity holders in U.S. health/care — first and foremost across all health citizens, it’s our personal physicians who garner trust among 9 in 10 of people in America. Personal doctors are then followed by the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, which is the organization responsible for most public health policy in the U.S. — where two-thirds of Americans overall trust the CDC and 84% of Democrats, but only 41% of Republicans. Americans identifying as Independents politically generally reflect the general U.S. population with 66% trusting the CDC. The NIH and FDA garner generally similar percentages as the CDC’s trust levels cross-political party ID.

Then there are the individual personae polled in this study which shown striking differences between Dr. Anthony Fauci on one hand, and Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Elon Musk on the other. Three in four Democrats trust Dr. Fauci for health information, compared with only 18% of Republicans and 45% of Independents.

In contrast, two-thirds of Republicans trust Donald Trump for health information, 58% trust RFK Jr., and 47% trust Elon Musk. As for Democrats, the trust levels were 7% for Trump, 18% for RFK Jr., and only 7% for Musk.

The Axios/Ipsos study also found low trust levels in three other names associated with Trump’s health post candidates all of whom are trained physicians: Mehmet Oz (named to lead CMS, trusted for health information by 23%), Jay Bhattacharya (named to lead the NIH, with 15% trusting him with health information), and Marty Makary (named by Trump to lead the FDA, receiving a low 14% of Americans who would trust him for health information). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of December 2024, the top threat to American public health was obesity, cited by 20% of people Axios/Ipsos surveyed. Obesity was closely followed by mental health issues, seen as the top threat to Americans’ public health by 18% of people.

Twelve percent of U.S. adults cited opioids and fentanyl, and chemicals and unsafe food additives, as the top health threat to Americans, with access to guns and firearms and cancer called out as top health threats by 11% and 10%, respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  The last chart from the Axios/Ipsos poll conducted in early December 2024 tells us that most Americans believe incoming President Trump should strengthen the major health institutions in America: from greatest support to least, that would be the FDA via food safety inspections, the Veterans’ Health Administration, Medicare, the CDC, Medicaid, and finally the Affordable Care Act.

There’s one other question I pulled from the top-line data generated by this study which adds additional veracity to the government’s role in U.S. public health. That question was, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? (That) American government makes the health and well-being of citizens a priority.”

The results were as follows:

  • Strongly agree, 7%
  • Somewhat agree, 25%
  • Somewhat disagree, 39%
  • Strongly disagree, 27%

with 2% of respondents skipping the question.

Thus, net, 66% of U.S. adults disagreed that the U.S. government prioritizes the health and well-being of citizens.

This statistic represents the U.S. health citizen mindset as of early December 2024, just a few weeks following the U.S. Presidential election.  

 

 

 

 

 

There are uncertainties with which we, who work in the health/care ecosystem, wrestle as we enter 2025 and the inauguration of President Trump, #47, slated for January 20, 2025.

I can cite one certainty about that date: President Trump’s inauguration will coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. As we continue to plan for designing, delivering, and assuring health care for all in 2025, we would do well by our fellow health citizens to keep MLK Jr.’s prescient and powerful observation in mind and heart and deed.