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While Americans are still dealing with increasing expenses in various sectors, a recent poll indicates that they are also finding it difficult to afford good quality medical care.
More than one-third of U.S. adults (approximately 91 million individuals) would be unable to obtain adequate medical care immediately if necessary, according to the most recent West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported federal spending on health care amounted to $4.9 trillion in 2023, equating to approximately $14,570 per individual.
Even though approximately 305 million individuals have health coverage in the United States, around 26 million Americans remain without insurance and are personally bearing their medical expenses.
Approximately four out of every ten adults say they have debt due to unpaid medical or dental expenses, whereas more than 70 million people refrain from seeing doctors for fear of costly charges.
According to the West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index, Hispanic Americans experienced the most significant impact, as 52 percent reported being unable to afford quality healthcare.
In second place were African Americans, with approximately 46 percent stating they did so. were unable to cover their physicians' expenses .
The survey additionally indicated that 64 percent of individuals with an income below $24,000 and 57 percent of families whose yearly earnings range from $24,000 to $48,000 were struggling to cover healthcare costs.
However, Americans with incomes above $48,000 maintained a fairly consistent level of accessibility to affordable healthcare from 2023 to 2024.
Dan Witters, a senior researcher at Gallup, stated in a press statement: "The national decline in healthcare affordability and accessibility continues, with this problem being particularly severe for Black, Hispanic, and lower-income adults."
In contrast, white adults and individuals from higher-income families continue to be mostly shielded from these deteriorating conditions.
'This particular disparity represents the largest gap in healthcare accessibility among these groups that we've documented so far, with numerous Americans facing greater challenges consistently each year.'
Between November 18 and December 27, 2024, the survey received responses via the internet and postal mail from 6,296 adults aged 18 years and above residing across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The participants were subsequently grouped as follows: those who felt cost-secure—having encountered no recent challenges when trying to obtain or pay for medical treatment or medications; cost-insecure individuals—who had recently struggled with either obtaining healthcare, affording treatments, or purchasing prescriptions; and finally, those labeled as cost-desperate—who found themselves unable to get any form of service, particularly affordable health care along with necessary medicines, within the past few months.
According to these classifications, merely 51 percent of Americans were found to be financially secure, marking the lowest figure since 2021.
An all-time high of 11 percent (approximately 29 million) Americans were categorized as being in dire straits due to costs.
Although there has been significant shifts in the percentage of Americans categorized as cost distressed and financially stable recently, approximately four out of every ten individuals still remain economically insecure.
The survey indicated that Hispanic adults experienced the most significant decreases in security during the four-year span, falling 17 percentage 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).
The percentage of Black adults increased by five points to reach 14 percent, and the proportion of lower-income households with an annual income below $24,000 rose by 11 points to stand at 25 percent.
Nevertheless, over the past four years, there has been minimal alteration in the standing of white adults or those from middle-to-high income brackets within America.
The researchers proposed that the widening disparity could stem from several contributing elements, such as heightened rates of both consumer and healthcare cost inflation along with ongoing pharmaceutical shortages.
The reduction in Medicaid enrollment as the continuous enrollment provision expired, along with significant cutbacks in CHIP enrollment, might also contribute to this trend.
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?'
In January 2024, rumors began circulating that pharmaceutical companies have increased drug prices Among over 770 medications, including Ozempic, the top-selling drug diabetes drug often used for weight loss .
The company behind it, Novo Nordisk, increased the price by 3.5 percent to nearly $970 for a monthly supply.
In the meantime, Eli Lilly raised the price of Mounjaro, an a medication for diabetes that is also utilized for shedding pounds , 4.5% to end at around $1,070 per month.
AstraZeneca Also increased prices by three percent for blood. cancer therapy with CalQUENCE, the non-small cell lung cancer medication Tagrisso, and the asthma treatment Fasenra.
Increases for Pfizer incorporated a 6% increase in the price of Xeljanz, which treats autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, along with hikes of 7.9% on cancer medications Ibrance and Xalkori.
Pfizer stated that these increases were essential for funding efforts in pharmaceutical research and development.
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