What Happens When Healthcare Costs Are Out of Reach?

In the infographic below, we illustrate how Americans fall into three categories of healthcare affordability. Each of these categories—or paths—leads to dramatically different outcomes for access to care, financial stability, and overall well-being.

Key Takeaways:

• A shrinking share of Americans are Cost Secure. Only 51% of U.S. adults report being able to obtain needed healthcare and medicine without financial barriers—a 10-percentage-point decline since 2022.

• Cost Insecurity affects more than one-third of adults. 38% have recently been unable to pay for medicine or care or lack easy access to affordable, quality care.

• Cost Desperation is growing. 11%, representing 28.7 million adults, report being unable to pay for both medicine and care and believe they would not have access to affordable, quality care if needed today—a 4-percentage-point rise since 2022.

• The consequences of Cost Desperation are severe. Compared with those who are Cost Secure, Cost Desperate adults are:

  • 29× as likely to be extremely concerned about paying for healthcare

  • 21× as likely to be extremely concerned about affording prescription drugs

  • 10× as likely to have cut back on food and utilities to pay for care

  • 7× as likely to have lost someone close due to unaffordable treatment

  These tradeoffs reflect the real, often devastating impact of rising healthcare costs.

About the Data:

The findings in this infographic came from two reports: Tracking Healthcare Affordability and Value (2025) and 2022 Healthcare in America Report, which evaluate three key factors that determine 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 prescribed by a doctor?

• 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: No recent occurrences of being unable to afford care or prescriptions in their household, and they report being able to access quality care if needed today.

• Cost Insecure: Recent occurrences of being unable to pay for care or medicine, or lacking easy access to affordable, quality care.

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