Changing U.S. Health Policy in an Era of COVID-19 and Rising Concerns About Racial Justice

The purpose of this project is to measure the extent of a shift in underlying values Americans hold relevant to health reform. The survey instrument will have two parts. The first part, led by Co-Project Investigato Robert Blendon, will replicate selected questions from the 2019 values survey conducted as a collaboration between the Commonwealth Fund, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the New York Times. The second part, led by Co-Project Investigator Sara Bleich, will involve new questions designed to probe issues of racial justice and health equity that could influence future health reform options. Fielded in late 2020 among a nationally representative sample of 2,300 U.S. adults, the survey will oversample of Black and Hispanic respondents. The topics will include views and values related to approaches to national health reform, the state of the U.S. health care system, the respondents’ own health care arrangements, the future role of government in health care, the role of private sector organizations, the Affordable Care Act, and equity. With the survey firm SSRS and in consultation with advisors named by the Fund, Harvard will develop, test, and field the survey during November–December 2020, after the U.S. presidential election.