The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that one-in-four Americans are struggling to pay for health care, with lower-income and sicker people predictably facing steeper challenges.

While health care doesn't figure quite as prominently on the political agenda as it did a year or so ago—the economy is by far the top issue for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike—it is still on voters' minds, coming in fourth overall (see chart below). Plus health care is part of Americans' economic anxiety. Health care ranks as a "serious problem" above paying for food (18%), problems with debt (16%), and paying the rent or mortgage (15%); but, it ranks below paying for gas (37%) and slightly below getting a good-paying job or raise in pay (26%).

Asked what aspect of health reform should be a priority for the next president, the top priority was making health care and health insurance more affordable (see chart below). Covering the insured placed second overall—for both Republicans and Democrats, although the coverage issue did resonate more for Democrats. Most of those surveyed thought Democratic Obama was more likely to make health reform a priority than Republican McCain.

As other polls have found, most of those surveyed had a preference for getting their insurance through their (or a spouse's) workplace. Those who already had job-linked coverage were particularly strongly in favor of preserving that option.