Public Agenda conducted five online focus groups in January and February 2023 with 40 residents of Texas, Washington State, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. All participants were employed adults ages 18 years and older. All were covered by employer-based health insurance from their own employers, not that of a spouse or parent. A professional focus group facility recruited the participants to Public Agenda’s specifications, seeking to include a mixture of men and women and racial and ethnic diversity, based on census benchmarks specific to each state. Potential participants were excluded if they worked in any health-related profession, including being employed by a health care provider, insurer, or pharmaceutical company, or if they worked in human resources, in employee benefits, or for a union.

Public Agenda staff moderated the five focus groups, which were all conducted in English. The moderators informed the participants that ideas they expressed in the groups would be shared publicly and their words quoted. The focus groups lasted two hours, and participants were paid for their time. Within three weeks afterward, Public Agenda staff members conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews lasting 30 to 40 minutes with twelve of the participants. Both the focus groups and interviews were video-recorded and professionally transcribed. Public Agenda staff developed a coding system and coded the transcripts thematically.

For further detail, please contact research@publicagenda.org.