The bipartisan consensus indicates that policies that increase pay for nurses and health care aides or lower the salaries of executives are likely to appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. The poll also finds that there have been no significant partisan shifts in attitudes toward health care policies since the pandemic, and Democrats still are significantly more likely than Republicans to support the Affordable Care Act, a single-payer health care system and a public option.

Most Americans believe the ACA had no effect on the pay of doctors or nurses, but about a third say the law created a windfall for hospital insurance executives. About 70% say both hospital and insurance executives are overpaid, and three-fourths of the public do not trust hospital executives to do what is right for them and their families.

Support for various health care reforms is related to views toward doctors, even controlling for political partisanship. For example, those who favor the ACA are more likely to support government funding to increase the number of doctors and boost their pay. In addition, Americans who favor a single-payer health care system are more likely than those who do not to back reform to increase the number of doctors.

Other key findings of the study include:

• Most Americans support increased government funding for lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients (74%) and for expanding government health insurance coverage for low-income people (59%). However, Democrats are more supportive of these policies than are Republicans.
• Views on doctors' pay are not tied to partisanship, with 37% of Democrats and 36% of Republicans saying doctors are overpaid.
• Majorities of Americans do not believe the ACA had any effect on the salaries of health care workers such as doctors (54%) and nurses (61%). Fifty-three percent say it had no effect on hospital executives' pay.
• 69% of those who support a public option favor increasing the number of doctors, compared to 40% of those who oppose a public option.
• 72% of the public supports allowing the federal government and private insurance to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices.

Read more:

• The clock is ticking on health care reform
• Alternative health plan designs catching on among employers
• If ever there was a time to rethink employer-sponsored health plans, this is it