The healthcare scam that’s about to upend the 2026 midterm elections

With the November 2026 midterm elections quickly approaching, candidates across the country are once again delivering slick soundbites on healthcare affordability. But while politicians treat healthcare like a convenient campaign talking point, everyday Americans are making grueling choices at the kitchen table.Fresh national polling from Patients Come First reveals a sobering reality: Nearly nine out of 10 Americans say healthcare will dictate their vote this fall. That isn’t a partisan anomaly — it is a cry for help from a public reaching its breaking point.Over the past two years, 55% of Americans say healthcare has become noticeably less affordable, with a majority enduring rising insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. But the human impact behind these figures is far worse than the data suggests. Nearly half of all Americans — 45% — report cutting back on basic survival necessities like groceries, rent, and electricity just to afford medical care. Another 47% have delayed or skipped medical treatments altogether out of fear of the bill, while nearly two-thirds have zero confidence they could survive a single unexpected hospital visit without spiraling into debt. When families are forced to choose between filling a life-saving prescription and paying their power bill, the system is fundamentally broken.Yet, as Washington continues to pour trillions of taxpayer dollars into runaway federal health programs under the guise of “expanding access,” costs continue to skyrocket. Why? Because instead of lowering out-of-pocket expenses for patients, these government mechanisms have turned into blank checks for corporate middlemen, large health systems, and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).Take the federal 340B drug discount program. Originally created as a safety net to help low-income patients access discounted medications, 340B has ballooned into the second-largest drug program in the country. Yet, our polling found that 83% of Americans have never even heard of it. Worse still, once voters learn that participating hospitals are not legally required to pass those steep drug discounts down to patients standing at the pharmacy counter — or even publicly report how those billions in savings are spent — nearly 80% express deep concern.The story is identical when it comes to PBMs and insurance red tape. Forty percent of Americans have watched their recommended medical treatments delayed or outright denied due to prior authorization hurdles, while massive conglomerates quietly absorb discounts behind closed doors.AN OLYMPIC CHAMPION’S $70,000 IVF NIGHTMARE PROVES WHY TRUMPRX IS A GAME-CHANGERWe do not need more government spending that subsidizes administrative excess while leaving patients exposed to financial ruin. True affordability requires tackling the root cause: stripping away the opaque practices, non-transparent markups, and middleman bureaucracy that drive up prices in the first place.As voters head to the polls this November, they aren’t asking for vague assurances or higher budget baselines. They are demanding accountability, radical transparency, and a system where federal safety nets actually serve the patients they were built to protect. It is time for lawmakers to stop funding corporate profit margins and start putting patients first.Kasia Mulligan is the National Spokesperson for Patients Come First.