Want to win an election? It might help to bash insurance companies, according to new research from a leading GOP firm shared first with Semafor.
Voters increasingly see insurance companies as the primary boogeymen for health care costs, according to new polling from OnMessage Inc., which finds these firms are viewed unfavorably by 78% of voters.
A memo breaking down the research says that voters “will reward candidates willing to hold them in check.”
In the poll, 60% of respondents said Congress should focus on the insurance industry compared to other health care cost drivers.
Wes Anderson, a founding partner of OnMessage, said voters’ concerns over insurance companies have “boomed,” as health care costs rank just behind gas and groceries on consumers’ minds.
“Millions of voters believe their out-of-pocket health insurance costs have become unbearable and something has to change,” Anderson said.
OnMessage is working with the Insurance Watchdog Coalition, a group taking on large insurance companies.
“Health plans’ top priority is connecting Americans with high-quality care and shielding them from the anticompetitive practices and ever-higher prices set by brand drugmakers, consolidated hospitals and PE-backed providers,” said Chris Bond, a spokesperson for America’s Health Insurance Plans. “Health plans are the only part of the health care system with an incentive to keep coverage as affordable as possible.”