More Americans can't afford medical care, poll finds
"The extent to which that has broadened and expanded really exposes how vulnerable these classes of individuals are," Dan Witters, a senior researcher at Gallup, said.
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White adults and high earners said they experienced no real change in their ability to pay. According to the survey, 8 percent of white adults reported being unable to afford care, the same share as in 2021.
Higher premiums, the added cost of going to the doctor and the recent rollback in Medicaid coverage have all contributed to making it harder for people to afford care. Health care costs continue to rise, and dramatic cuts to Medicaid and the elimination of tax subsidies that lower the cost of Obamacare plans, as discussed by the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers, will likely exacerbate the problem, according to experts.
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"It puts further pressure on a system that already has a financial toxicity that is pervasive," said Tim Lash, president of the West Health Policy Center. Many families are already struggling with medical debt, he said. Unlike doing without a new blender, people who forgo care can suffer or die, he said.
While there have been significant improvements in the past 15 years under the Affordable Care Act, which significantly expanded Medicaid, "we're not a country where health care is affordable," said Sara R. Collins, a health economist who is vice president for health care coverage and access for the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund. Even when people have insurance, many do not have sufficient coverage to pay their medical bills.
If the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts go through that Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration are considering, the number of people who will not able to afford care is likely to climb, she said, as millions of people lose their coverage or replace it with less generous plans.
"We're getting back to levels that existed before the Affordable Care Act," she said.
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