As Americans continue to grapple with rising costs across nearly all industries, a new survey shows they are also struggling to pay for quality healthcare.
Over a third of US adults (about 91 million people) could not access quality healthcare if they needed it today, based on the latest West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index.
Federal spending on healthcare was reported to be $4.9 trillion in 2023, or $14,570 per person, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
And while about 305 million people have health insurance in the US, an estimated 26 million Americans are uninsured and footing hospital bills themselves.
About four in 10 adults report having debt from unpaid medical or dental bills while over 70 million avoid visiting the doctor’s in fear of high costs.
The West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index found Hispanic Americans were the worst impacted groups – with 52 percent saying they are unable to afford quality healthcare.
Coming in second were Black Americans, with about 46 percent reporting they could not pay their doctors’ bills.
The survey also noted that 64 percent of people earning less than $24,000 and 57 percent of households with annual incomes between $24,000 and $48,000 were also finding it difficult to afford healthcare.
But Americans earning over $48,000 remained relatively stable in their ability to access affordable care between 2023 and 2024.
Over a third of US citizens (about 91 million people) are unable to access quality healthcare if they needed it today
Dan Witters, senior researcher at Gallup commented in a news release: ‘Healthcare affordability and access continue to erode nationally, and this issue is especially acute among Black, Hispanic, and lower-income adults.
‘White adults and those in higher-income households, in contrast, remain largely insulated from these worsening trends.
‘Among these groups, this is the widest gap in access to care we have recorded thus far, with many Americans experiencing increased hardship year over year.’
The survey was answered by web and mail by 6,296 adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia between November 18 till December 27, 2024.
The participants were then divided into three groups: cost secure – faced no recent difficulty accessing or affording care or paying for prescription medicine – cost insecure – recently unable to access care, afford care or prescription medicine – and cost desperate – recently unable to access all services, including affordable care and prescription medicine.
Based on these groups, only 51 percent Americans were considered cost secure, the lowest level since 2021.
A record high of 11 percent (about 29 million) Americans were classified as cost desperate.
While there has been greater change in the proportion of Americans classified as cost desperate and cost secure in recent years, nearly four in 10 Americans were found to be cost insecure.
The survey noted that Hispanic adults saw the greatest declines in security over the four-year period, dropping 17 points to 34 percent.
This was followed by Black adults, who dropped 13 points to 41 percent.
Without insurance, primary care visits can range from $150 to $300 just to be seen by a doctor.
However, with insurance, copays typically range from $10 to $50.
Surveyors also found that the gap between those who could afford healthcare and those who could not had greatly widened since their first questionnaire in 2021, particularly among Hispanic adults (up eight points to 18 percent).
Black adults were up five points to 14 percent and lower-income households earning under $24,000 per year were up 11 points to 25 percent.
However, there was little to no change in status among White adults or Americans in middle – to high-income households in the past four years.
The researchers suggested the increased gap may be due to a confluence of factors, including elevated levels of consumer and medical inflation and persistent drug shortages.
Declining rates of Medicaid enrollment due to the expiration of the continuous enrollment provision and major cuts in Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment could also play a role.
Tim Lash, president of West Health Policy Center, stated that the only way to decrease the gap and make healthcare affordable was through change in governmental policy
Tim Lash, president of West Health Policy Center, stated that the only way to decrease the gap and make healthcare affordable was through change in governmental policy.
He noted in a news release: ‘The rising trajectory in the inability to pay for healthcare is a disturbing trend that is likely to continue and even accelerate.
‘Policy action at both the state and federal level is urgently needed, or even more Americans will have to go without treatment or be forced to make painful tradeoffs between paying for medical care or paying for other necessities.
‘The human and economic costs are enormous.’
This comes months after Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. claimed that Americans were unhappy with government-run health care programs and would prefer to be on private-company owned plans.
Kennedy, 71, criticized government-run health care programs during one of his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearings in January.
When asked how he would improve Medicare and Medicaid, the Secretary, who is on a Medicare Advantage plan, the privately run alternative to traditional Medicare said: ‘We need to listen to what people prefer to be on.
‘I would ask any of the Democrats who are chuckling just now: Do you think all that money, the $900 billion that we’re sending to Medicaid every year, has made Americans healthy? Do we think it’s working for anybody? Are the premiums low enough?’
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. claimed that Americans were unhappy with government-run health care programs and would prefer to be on private-company owned plans
Drugmakers have hiked up the prices of more than 770 drugs since the start of the year — including medications used daily by millions of Americans
In January 2024, reports emerged that drugmakers have hiked the prices of more than 770 drugs including Ozempic, the blockbuster diabetes drug often used for weight loss.
Its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, jacked up the price 3.5 percent to almost $970 per month’s supply.
Meanwhile, Eli Lilly increased the cost of Mounjaro, a diabetes drug also used for weight loss, 4.5 percent to close to $1,070 a month.
AstraZeneca also raised prices three percent for blood cancer treatment Calquence, non-small cell lung cancer drug Tagrisso and asthma treatment Fasenra.
Increases for Pfizer included a six percent rise on the cost of Xeljanz, a treatment for autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and 7.9 percent increases on cancer drugs Ibrance and Xalkori.
Pfizer said the rises were necessary to support investments in drug discovery.
