This transient was up to date on July 11, 2025 to incorporate the newest KFF polling information.
For a few years, KFF polling has discovered that the excessive value of well being care is a burden on U.S. households, and that well being care prices issue into selections about insurance coverage protection and care in search of. These prices and the prospect of sudden medical payments additionally rank as the highest monetary worries for adults and their households. This information notice summarizes current KFF polling on the general public’s experiences with well being care prices. Foremost takeaways embrace:
- Just below half of U.S. adults say it’s troublesome to afford well being care prices, and one in 4 say they or a member of the family of their family had issues paying for well being care up to now 12 months. Black and Hispanic adults, these with decrease incomes, and the uninsured are notably more likely to report issues affording well being care up to now 12 months.
- The price of well being 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 well being care they wanted due to the associated fee. Notably three in 4 (75%) uninsured adults underneath age 65 say they went with out wanted care due to the associated fee.
- The price of pharmaceuticals prevents some folks from filling prescriptions. About one in 5 adults (21%) say they haven’t crammed a prescription due to the associated fee whereas an analogous share (23%) say they’ve as a substitute opted for over-the-counter alternate options. About one in seven adults say they’ve lower capsules in half or skipped doses of medication within the final 12 months due to the associated fee. A 3rd of all adults say they’ve taken no less than considered one of these value saving measures up to now 12 months, together with bigger shares of girls and people with decrease incomes.
- Well being care debt is a burden for a big share of Individuals. In 2022, about 4 in ten adults (41%) reported having debt attributable to 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 well being care prices, with disproportionate shares of Black and Hispanic adults, girls, dad and mom, these with low incomes, and uninsured adults saying they’ve well being care debt.
- Those that are lined by medical insurance usually are not resistant to the burden of well being care prices. Virtually 4 in ten insured adults underneath the age of 65 (38%) fear about affording their month-to-month medical insurance premium and enormous shares of adults with employer-sponsored insurance coverage (ESI) and people with Market protection fee their insurance coverage as “truthful” or “poor” with regards to their month-to-month premium and to out-of-pocket prices to see a physician.
- Notable shares of adults say they’re fearful about affording medical prices similar to the price of well being care providers (together with out-of-pocket prices not lined by insurance coverage, similar to co-pays and deductibles) or sudden payments. About six in ten adults say they’re both “very” or “considerably fearful” about with the ability to afford the price of well being care providers (62%) or sudden medical payments (61%) for themselves and their households.
Issue Affording Medical Prices
Many U.S. adults have hassle affording well being care prices. Whereas decrease revenue and uninsured adults are the most probably to report this, these with medical insurance and people with increased incomes usually are not resistant to the excessive value of medical care. Just below half of U.S. adults say that it is rather or considerably troublesome for them to afford their well being care prices (44%). Uninsured adults underneath age 65 are more likely to say affording well being care prices is troublesome (82%) in comparison with these with medical insurance protection (42%). Moreover, a slight majority of Hispanic adults (55%) and half of Black adults (49%) report issue affording well being care prices in comparison with about 4 in ten White adults (39%). Adults in households with annual incomes underneath $40,000 are extra seemingly than adults in households with increased incomes to say it’s troublesome to afford their well being care prices. (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
When requested particularly about issues paying for well being care up to now 12 months, about one in 4 (23%) adults say they or a member of the family of their family had issues paying for care, together with three in ten Hispanic adults (33%) and Black adults (30%). Over half (55%) of uninsured adults underneath age 65 say they or a member of the family of their family had issues paying for well being care, in comparison with only one in 5 (22%) insured adults. (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
The price of care may lead some adults to skip or delay in search of providers, with one-third (36%) of adults saying that they’ve skipped or postponed getting wanted well being care up to now 12 months due to the associated fee. Girls are extra seemingly than males to say they’ve skipped or postponed getting well being care they wanted due to the associated fee (38% vs. 32%). Adults ages 65 and older, most of whom are eligible for well being care protection by means of Medicare, are a lot much less seemingly than youthful age teams to say they haven’t gotten well being care they wanted due to value.
Three-quarters of uninsured adults say they’ve skipped or postponed getting the well being care they wanted attributable to value. Having medical insurance, nonetheless, doesn’t provide ironclad safety as about 4 in ten adults with insurance coverage (37%) nonetheless report not getting well being care they wanted attributable to value. (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
Skipping care attributable to prices can have notable well being impacts. Practically two in ten adults (18%) report that their well being acquired worse as a result of they skipped or delayed getting care. Amongst adults underneath age 65, those that are uninsured are twice as seemingly as these with well being protection to say that their well being worsened attributable to skipped or postponed care (42% vs. 20%). About 4 occasions as many adults underneath age 65 (23%) say their well being acquired worse after skipping or suspending care as adults ages 65 and older (6%), most of whom have Medicare protection. (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
A 2022 KFF report discovered that individuals who have already got debt attributable to medical or dental care are disproportionately more likely to postpone or skip medical care. Half (51%) of adults presently experiencing debt attributable to medical or dental payments say up to now 12 months, value has been a probititor to getting the medical check or remedy that was really helpful by a physician. (Supply: KFF Health Care Debt Survey: Feb.-Mar. 2022)
Prescription Drug Prices
The excessive value of pharmaceuticals additionally leads some folks to chop again on their drugs in numerous 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 value considerations and about one in 5 (21%) say they haven’t crammed a prescription as a result of value. Moreover, about one in seven adults (15%) say that previously 12 months they’ve lower capsules in half or skipped doses of medication attributable to value.
One-third of the general public (33%) say they’ve taken any of those value 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, slightly 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 associated 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 12 months in comparison with these with increased incomes (41% of these with a family revenue of lower than $40,000 a 12 months vs. 29% of these with an revenue of $40,000 or extra). (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
Notably, adults with persistent situations, who are inclined to have increased well being care and drugs wants, can usually face challenges affording prescriptions. In KFF’s 2023 Survey of Client Experiences with Well being Insurance coverage, insured grownup with a persistent situation have been twice as seemingly as these with out a persistent situation to say that they had delayed or gone with out pharmaceuticals as a result of value (18% vs. 9%).
Well being Insurance coverage Value Scores
Medical health insurance supplies some monetary safety, however premiums and out-of-pocket prices can nonetheless current a monetary burden for a lot of people. General, most insured adults fee their medical insurance as “wonderful” or “good” with regards to the quantity they should pay out-of-pocket for his or her prescriptions (61%), the quantity they should pay out-of-pocket to see a physician (53%), and the quantity they pay month-to-month for insurance coverage (54%). Nevertheless, no less than three in ten fee their insurance coverage as “truthful” or “poor” on every of those metrics, and affordability scores fluctuate relying on the kind of protection folks have.
Adults who’ve personal insurance coverage by means of employer-sponsored insurance coverage or Market protection are extra seemingly than these with Medicare or Medicaid to fee their insurance coverage negatively with regards to their month-to-month premium, the quantity they should pay out of pocket to see a physician, and their prescription co-pays. About one in 4 adults with Medicare give detrimental scores to the quantity they should pay every month for insurance coverage and to their out-of-pocket prescription prices, whereas about one in 5 give their insurance coverage a detrimental ranking with regards to their out-of-pocket prices to see a physician.
Medicaid enrollees are much less seemingly than these with different protection varieties to provide their insurance coverage detrimental scores on these affordability measures (Medicaid doesn’t cost month-to-month premiums in most states, and copays for lined providers, the place utilized, are required to be nominal). (Supply: KFF Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance)
Well being Care Debt
In June 2022, KFF launched an evaluation of the KFF Health Care Debt Survey, a companion report back to the investigative journalism challenge on well being care debt performed by KFF Well being Information and NPR, Analysis Debt. This challenge discovered that well being care debt is a wide-reaching downside in the USA and that 41% of U.S. adults presently have some sort of debt attributable to 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 can be 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 comparable shares say they’ve well being 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 pal from cash they borrowed to repay medical or dental payments.
Whereas 4 in ten U.S. adults have some sort of well being care debt, disproportionate shares of decrease revenue adults, the uninsured, Black and Hispanic adults, girls, and fogeys report present debt attributable to medical or dental payments.
Vulnerabilities and Worries About Well being Care and Lengthy-Time period Care Prices
KFF’s Could 2025 Well being Monitoring Ballot exhibits the price of well being care providers and sudden medical payments are on the high of the checklist of individuals’s monetary worries, with about six in ten saying they’re no less than considerably fearful about affording the price of well being care providers (62%) or sudden 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 underneath age 65 say they’re fearful about affording the price of well being care providers or sudden medical payments (82% and 80%, respectively). About 4 in ten (38%) insured adults underneath the age of 65 say they’re fearful about affording their month-to-month medical insurance premium. (Supply: KFF Health Tracking Poll: May 2025)
Many U.S. adults could also be one sudden medical invoice from falling into debt. About half of U.S. adults say they’d not have the ability to pay an sudden medical invoice that got here to $500 out of pocket. This consists of one in 5 (19%) who wouldn’t have the ability to pay it in any respect, 5% who would borrow the cash from a financial institution, payday lender, buddies or household to cowl the associated fee, and one in 5 (21%) who would incur bank card debt as a way to pay the invoice. Girls, these with decrease family incomes, Black and Hispanic adults are extra seemingly 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 help providers are additionally a priority. Virtually six in ten (57%) adults 65 and older say they’re no less than “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 with the ability to afford help providers similar to paid nurses or aides. These considerations additionally loom massive 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 want these providers. See The Affordability of Long-Term Care and Support Services: Findings from a KFF Survey for a deeper dive into considerations concerning the affordability of nursing houses and help providers.
