The Politico organization polls the American public on a fairly regular basis. The most recent poll was done between January 18^th and January 20^th and questioned almost 2,000 voters who had a representative sampling of age, race, gender, and political affiliation. (here) It asked the respondents a number of questions including what they would like to hear President Trump discuss in his State of the Union address this week and what issues Congress should work on in the 2018 session.

An overwhelming 82 percent of those polled believe it is “very important” or “somewhat important” that President Trump address health care reform in his speech. Health care reform polled much higher than any other issue.

Likewise, 73 percent believe it’s important for Congress to consider health care reform this session. This is a higher percent than any other issue, including infrastructure spending at 71 percent, immigration reform at 68 percent, and entitlement reform at 65 percent.

Even though Congress was unable to pass meaningful health care reform last year, the issue remains important to the American public. No one want to return to the pre-Obamacare system, yet the Affordable Care Act has not accomplished its architects’ main goals of decreasing health care costs, increasing access, and providing universal health insurance coverage.

In spite of the politics that will surround this fall’s Congressional elections, hopefully Congress can pass health care reform this year that will give patients, not the government, more control over their medical care.