51% of U.S. Women Report a Negative Healthcare Experience in the Past Five Years

More than half of U.S. women (51%) report at least one negative healthcare experience in the past five years, such as feeling dismissed or misdiagnosed, compared with 39% of men, according to a new Gallup-Pivotal survey of more than 5,000 adults.

Women were more likely than men to say they had to advocate to be taken seriously (30% vs. 23%) and more likely to have skipped or delayed care because of cost in the past year (32% vs. 25%).

For health systems, a woman’s care experience often reaches beyond her own care. Women are frequently described as the “chief medical officers” of their families, and Rock Health estimates they drive 80% of healthcare spending. If women are steering care decisions for their families, a negative experience could influence where other family members seek care, too.

Care for women is also moving out of the hospital. Vizient’s 2026 Impact of Change report projects that over the next 10 years, women’s services volumes will decline 6% in inpatient settings but grow 9% in outpatient settings.

At the same time, women are more likely than men to use telehealth: an analysis of 2020–2023 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data found women had 37% higher odds of using telehealth than men.

Why this matters:

Because many women make care decisions for others, negative experiences may affect patient engagement and retention beyond a single patient. And as women’s services shift toward outpatient and virtual settings, each of those touchpoints may carry more weight.