Healthcare Affordability is Eroding

Key Takeaways

• A shrinking share of Americans are Cost Secure when it comes to healthcare. Only about half of U.S. adults (51%) believe basic healthcare is affordable and readily accessible, a 10-percentage-point drop since 2022.

• Meanwhile, a growing share of Americans are Cost Desperate when it comes to affording healthcare. An estimated 28.7 million U.S. adults (11%, a 4-percentage -point increase since 2022) report recent occurrences of being unable to pay for household care, being unable to pay for prescribed medicine and feeling that they would not have access to affordable quality care if needed today.

• Struggles with healthcare affordability are growing fastest among Black and Hispanic households and among lower-income households.

About the Data:

The West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index 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 did not seek treatment due to cost?

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

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

Americans fall into one of three categories:

• Cost Secure: These persons report no recent occurrences of inability to afford care or prescribed medicine in their household and have access to quality care if it were needed today.

• Cost Insecure: These persons report recent occurrences of being unable to pay for care or medicine or lack easy access to quality care.

• Cost Desperate: These persons report recent occurrences of being unable to pay for household care, being unable to pay for prescribed medicine and feeling that they would not have access to affordable quality care if needed today.