Healthcare Affordability is Eroding

Key Takeaways:

• The Cost Secure share has slipped to a five-year low. Just 49% of US adults can pay for needed healthcare and medicine and have access to quality, affordable care, down 12 percentage points since 2022.

• Roughly 41% of adults are Cost Insecure, meaning they have either struggled recently to pay for prescriptions or treatment, or they don't have reliable access to affordable, quality care.

• About 10% are Cost Desperate, having recently been unable to pay for needed care and medicine, and reporting they lack access to quality, affordable care. That share is up 3 percentage points from 2022.

• Affordability is declining across all ages, but most sharply among adults 18-29 and 65+, suggesting even Medicare-covered Americans aren’t insulated from the affordability erosion.

About the Data:

• Since 2021, West Health and Gallup have tracked healthcare affordability, access, quality and value through ongoing surveys of at least 3,000 Americans per survey administration.

• The findings are informed by the West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index, which evaluates three key factors in determining Americans’ ability to afford healthcare:

  • Care avoidance: Has there been a time in the last three months when you or a member of your household had a health problem, but you did not seek treatment due to the cost of care?

  • Skipped treatments: Has there been a time in the last three months when you or a member of your household has been unable to pay for medicine or drugs that a doctor had prescribed for you because you did not have enough money to pay for them?

  • Difficulty today: If you needed access to quality healthcare today, would you be able to afford it?

Based on their responses, Americans fall into one of three categories:

• Cost Secure: Individuals say they have access to quality, affordable care and have recently been able to pay for both needed care and medicine.

• Cost Insecure: Individuals say they lack access to quality, affordable care or have recently been unable to pay for either needed care or medicine.

• Cost Desperate: Individuals say they lack access to quality, affordable care and have recently been unable to pay for both needed care and medicine.

Sources:

West Health – Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index 2026 Article: U.S. Adults' Ability to Afford Healthcare at a Five-Year Low

West Health - Gallup Center on Healthcare in America: https://westhealth.gallup.com/