The data: Healthcare cost security has hit a five-year low. Just 49% of US consumers say they can afford needed care and prescription medications today, according to the recently published West Health-Gallup survey of 5,660 US adults. This is the smallest share of “cost-secure” individuals in five years.

Younger generations are less likely than older consumers to feel cost-secure.

• Just 32% of 18-to-29-year-olds say they’re cost-secure, down sharply from 46% in 2021 and 2022 when it was highest.
• Cost security increases with age: Seniors, who are typically covered by Medicare, are the most likely to feel cost-secure. Even so, just 61% say they’re cost-secure today, down from 69% last year and 79% in 2022.

Zooming out: Prices for healthcare services and prescription drugs continue to rise. Employer-sponsored health plans, which cover about two-thirds of working-age adults, are covering fewer services and treatments and shifting more costs onto workers. And the expiration of enhanced ACA marketplace subsidies has stripped millions of people of affordable health insurance, forcing many into plans with sharply higher premiums and leaving others uninsured.

Why it matters: Healthcare affordability challenges have traditionally been concentrated among lower-income households and patients with chronic conditions who require frequent care. But these new data suggest the problem extends beyond financial security and health status: healthcare cost insecurity is worsening across every age group, too.

Younger adults are bearing the brunt. A brutal job market has hit entry-level workers hardest, limiting their access to employer-sponsored coverage and pushing them into more expensive insurance options. Young adults also accounted for the largest decline in ACA marketplace enrollment this year, according to KFF.

Consequently, consumers across all ages are increasingly worried about their ability to pay for needed healthcare in the year ahead, reaching the highest level recorded since tracking began in 2021, per West Health-Gallup.

• 51% are concerned about paying for healthcare services, up from 42% in 2021 and 35% in 2022.
• 42% are concerned about affording prescription drugs this year, up from 30% in 2021.

Implications for healthcare companies: The healthcare cost crisis will drive many Americans to delay or forgo care, leaving them sicker over time. Those consequences will take years to fully materialize, but the sectors most blamed for high healthcare costs (insurers, pharma, and to a lesser extent, hospitals) can act now as financial pressures suppress engagement. They should aggressively market lower-cost products and services within their portfolios, expand AI tools that deliver guidance and answers once requiring more time and money to access, and broaden financial assistance programs and savings tools for consumers navigating recent coverage changes.

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