People’ Challenges with Well being Care Prices

For a few years, KFF polling has discovered that the excessive price of Health Care is a burden on U.S. households, and that Health Care prices issue into choices about insurance coverage protection and care looking for. These prices and the prospect of surprising medical payments additionally rank as the highest monetary worries for adults and their households. This knowledge observe summarizes current KFF polling on the general public’s experiences with Health Care prices. Principal takeaways embody:

• Just below half of U.S. adults say IT is troublesome to afford Health Care prices, and about three in ten say they or a member of the family of their family had issues paying for Health Care up to now 12 months. Hispanic adults, younger adults, and the uninsured are notably more likely to report issues affording Health Care up to now yr.
• The price of Health Care can lead some to place off wanted care. About one-third (36%) of adults say that previously 12 months they’ve skipped or postponed getting Health Care they wanted due to the fee. Notably three in 4 (75%) uninsured adults below age 65 say they went with out wanted care due to the fee.
• The price of prescribed drugs prevents some individuals from filling prescriptions. About one in 5 adults (21%) say they haven’t crammed a prescription due to the fee whereas an identical share (23%) say they’ve as a substitute opted for over-the-counter alternate options. About one in seven adults say they’ve reduce tablets in half or skipped doses of medication within the final yr due to the fee. A 3rd of all adults say they’ve taken a minimum of considered one of these price saving measures up to now yr, together with bigger shares of girls and people with decrease incomes.
• Health Care debt is a burden for a big share of People. In 2022, about 4 in ten adults (41%) reported having debt as a result of medical or dental payments together with money owed owed to bank cards, collections businesses, household and buddies, banks, and different lenders to pay for his or her Health Care prices, with disproportionate shares of Black and Hispanic adults, girls, dad and mom, these with low incomes, and uninsured adults saying they’ve Health Care debt.
• Those that are coated by Health insurance coverage usually are not resistant to the burden of Health Care prices. Nearly 4 in ten insured adults below the age of 65 (38%) fear about affording their month-to-month Health insurance coverage premium and huge shares of adults with employer-sponsored insurance coverage (ESI) and people with Market protection fee their insurance coverage as “honest” or “poor” when IT involves their month-to-month premium and to out-of-pocket prices to see a health care provider.
• Notable shares of adults say they’re nervous about affording medical prices resembling the price of Health Care companies (together with out-of-pocket prices not coated by insurance coverage, resembling co-pays and deductibles) or surprising payments. About six in ten adults say they’re both “very” or “considerably nervous” about having the ability to afford the price of Health Care companies (62%) or surprising medical payments (61%) for themselves and their households.

Issue Affording Medical Prices

Many U.S. adults have hassle affording Health Care prices. Whereas decrease revenue and uninsured adults are the almost definitely to report this, these with Health insurance coverage and people with greater incomes usually are not resistant to the excessive price of medical care. Just below half of U.S. adults say that IT could be very or considerably troublesome for them to afford their Health Care prices (44%). Uninsured adults below age 65 are more likely to say affording Health Care prices is troublesome (82%) in comparison with these with Health insurance coverage protection (42%). Moreover, a slight majority of Hispanic adults (55%) and half of Black adults (49%) report problem affording Health Care prices in comparison with about 4 in ten White adults (39%). Adults in households with annual incomes below $40,000 are extra doubtless than adults in households with greater incomes to say IT is troublesome to afford their Health Care prices. (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-june-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: Might 2025)

When requested particularly about issues paying for Health Care up to now yr, about three in ten (28%) adults say they or a member of the family of their family had issues paying for care, rising to 4 in ten amongst Hispanic adults (41%) and younger adults ages 18 to 29 (40%). Amongst these below age 65, six in ten (59%) uninsured adults report issues paying for Health Care up to now yr, about twice the share of insured adults who say the identical (30%). (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-nov-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: November 2025)

The price of care can even lead some adults to skip or delay looking for companies, with one-third (36%) of adults saying that they’ve skipped or postponed getting wanted Health Care up to now 12 months due to the fee. Girls are extra doubtless than males to say they’ve skipped or postponed getting Health Care they wanted due to the fee (38% vs. 32%). Adults ages 65 and older, most of whom are eligible for Health Care protection via Medicare, are a lot much less doubtless than youthful age teams to say they haven’t gotten Health Care they wanted due to price.

Three-quarters of uninsured adults say they’ve skipped or postponed getting the Health Care they wanted as a result of price. Having Health insurance coverage, nevertheless, doesn’t supply ironclad safety as about 4 in ten adults with insurance coverage (37%) nonetheless report not getting Health Care they wanted as a result of price. (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-june-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: Might 2025)

Skipping care as a result of prices can have notable Health impacts. Almost two in ten adults (18%) report that their Health acquired worse as a result of they skipped or delayed getting care. Amongst adults below age 65, those that are uninsured are twice as doubtless as these with Health protection to say that their Health worsened as a result of skipped or postponed care (42% vs. 20%). About 4 instances as many adults below age 65 (23%) say their Health acquired worse after skipping or suspending care as adults ages 65 and older (6%), most of whom have Medicare protection. (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-june-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: Might 2025)

A 2022 KFF report discovered that individuals who have already got debt as a result of medical or dental care are disproportionately more likely to delay or skip medical care. Half (51%) of adults at the moment experiencing debt as a result of medical or dental payments say up to now yr, price has been a probititor to getting the medical check or therapy that was advisable by a health care provider. (Supply: KFF Health Care Debt Survey: Feb.-Mar. 2022)

Prescription Drug Prices

The excessive price of prescribed drugs additionally leads some individuals to chop again on their medicines in varied methods. About one in 4 adults (23%) say up to now 12 months they’ve taken an over-the-counter drug as a substitute of getting a prescription crammed due to price considerations and about one in 5 (21%) say they haven’t crammed a prescription as a result of price. Moreover, about one in seven adults (15%) say that previously 12 months they’ve reduce tablets in half or skipped doses of medication as a result of price.

One-third of the general public (33%) say they’ve taken any of those price saving measures up to now 12 months. 4 in ten girls (39%) say they’ve taken any of those prescription medicine measures in comparison with one-quarter (26%) of males. Moreover, just below half of Hispanic adults (46%) say they’ve both taken an over-the-counter drug, skipped doses, or not crammed prescriptions due to the fee, in comparison with three in ten (29%) White adults who say the identical. Equally, bigger shares these with decrease incomes report having taken a cost-saving measure within the final yr in comparison with these with greater incomes (41% of these with a family revenue of lower than $40,000 a yr vs. 29% of these with an revenue of $40,000 or extra). (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-june-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: Might 2025)

Notably, adults with continual circumstances, who are inclined to have greater Health Care and medicine wants, can typically face challenges affording prescriptions. In KFF’s 2023 Survey of Shopper Experiences with Health Insurance coverage, insured grownup with a continual situation have been twice as doubtless as these with out a continual situation to say that they had delayed or gone with out prescribed drugs as a result of price (18% vs. 9%).

Health-insurance-cost-ratings”>Health Insurance coverage Price Scores

Health insurance coverage supplies some monetary safety, however premiums and out-of-pocket prices can nonetheless current a monetary burden for a lot of people. Total, most insured adults fee their Health insurance coverage as “wonderful” or “good” when IT involves the quantity they must pay out-of-pocket for his or her prescriptions (61%), the quantity they must pay out-of-pocket to see a health care provider (53%), and the quantity they pay month-to-month for insurance coverage (54%). Nonetheless, a minimum of three in ten fee their insurance coverage as “honest” or “poor” on every of those metrics, and affordability rankings differ relying on the kind of protection individuals have.

Adults who’ve personal insurance coverage via employer-sponsored insurance coverage or Market protection are extra doubtless than these with Medicare or Medicaid to fee their insurance coverage negatively when IT involves their month-to-month premium, the quantity they must pay out of pocket to see a health care provider, and their prescription co-pays. About one in 4 adults with Medicare give adverse rankings to the quantity they must pay every month for insurance coverage and to their out-of-pocket prescription prices, whereas about one in 5 give their insurance coverage a adverse ranking when IT involves their out-of-pocket prices to see a health care provider.

Medicaid enrollees are much less doubtless than these with different protection varieties to present their insurance coverage adverse rankings on these affordability measures (Medicaid doesn’t cost month-to-month premiums in most states, and copays for coated companies, the place utilized, are required to be nominal). (Supply: KFF Survey of Shopper Experiences with Health Insurance coverage)

Health-care-debt”>Health Care Debt

In June 2022, KFF launched an evaluation of the KFF Health Care Debt Survey, a companion report back to the investigative journalism venture on Health Care debt performed by KFF Health Information and NPR, Prognosis Debt. This venture discovered that Health Care debt is a wide-reaching drawback in the US and that 41% of U.S. adults at the moment have some kind of debt as a result of medical or dental payments from their very own or another person’s care, together with a few quarter of adults (24%) who say they’ve medical or dental payments which are overdue or that they’re unable to pay, and one in 5 (21%) who’ve payments they’re paying off over time on to a supplier. One in six (17%) report debt owed to a financial institution, assortment company, or different lender from loans taken out to pay for medical or dental payments, whereas related shares say they’ve Health Care debt from payments they placed on a bank card and are paying off over time (17%). One in ten report debt owed to a member of the family or buddy from cash they borrowed to repay medical or dental payments.

Whereas 4 in ten U.S. adults have some kind of Health Care debt, disproportionate shares of decrease revenue adults, the uninsured, Black and Hispanic adults, girls, and oldsters report present debt as a result of medical or dental payments.

Health-care-and-long-term-care-costs”>Vulnerabilities and Worries About Health Care and Lengthy-Time period Care Prices

KFF’s Might 2025 Health Monitoring Ballot reveals the price of Health Care companies and surprising medical payments are on the prime of the checklist of individuals’s monetary worries, with about six in ten saying they’re a minimum of considerably nervous about affording the price of Health Care companies (62%) or surprising medical payments (61%) for themselves and their households. These are bigger than the shares who say they fear about affording housing prices (51%), transportation bills (50%), utilities (49%), and meals (48%) for his or her households.

Notably, eight in ten uninsured adults below age 65 say they’re nervous about affording the price of Health Care companies or surprising medical payments (82% and 80%, respectively). About 4 in ten (38%) insured adults below the age of 65 say they’re nervous about affording their month-to-month Health insurance coverage premium. (Supply: Health-tracking-poll-june-2025.pdf”>KFF Health Monitoring Ballot: Might 2025)

Many U.S. adults could also be one surprising medical invoice from falling into debt. About half of U.S. adults say they’d not be capable to pay an surprising medical invoice that got here to $500 out of pocket. This consists of one in 5 (19%) who wouldn’t be capable to pay IT in any respect, 5% who would borrow the cash from a financial institution, payday lender, buddies or household to cowl the fee, and one in 5 (21%) who would incur bank card debt so as to pay the invoice. Girls, these with decrease family incomes, Black and Hispanic adults are extra doubtless than their counterparts to say they’d be unable to afford such a invoice. (Supply: KFF Health Care Debt Survey: Feb.-Mar. 2022)

Amongst older adults, the prices of long-term care and assist companies are additionally a priority. Nearly six in ten (57%) adults 65 and older say they’re a minimum of “considerably anxious” about affording the price of a nursing dwelling or assisted residing facility in the event that they wanted IT, and half say they really feel anxious about having the ability to afford assist companies resembling paid nurses or aides. These considerations additionally loom giant amongst these between the ages of fifty and 64, with greater than seven in ten saying they really feel anxious about affording residential care (73%) and care from paid nurses or aides (72%) in the event that they have been to wish these companies. See The Affordability of Lengthy-Time period Care and Assist Companies: Findings from a KFF Survey for a deeper dive into considerations concerning the affordability of nursing properties and assist companies.