The trend: The number of Americans who can afford quality healthcare is dropping, and many US consumers are borrowing money to pay their medical bills despite having health insurance. These are key findings from two recent West Health-Gallup surveys of US adults conducted late last year.
Digging into the data: 11% of consumers are “cost desperate”—defined by West Health-Gallup as lacking access to quality, affordable care and recently being unable to pay for needed care and medication.
- That’s a 3 percentage-point hike above last year and the highest level since 2021.
- The greatest increases in the cost desperate category since 2021 are seen among Hispanic (up 8 percentage points to 18%) and Black (up 5 points to 14%) adults and households earning under $24,000 per year (up 11 points to 25%).