More than 82 million Americans, or about one-third, make daily trade-offs in order to afford health care, according to a new study.
The research from West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America, released Thursday, revealed a list of trade-offs people are willing to make to afford health care in the U.S., including rationing prescriptions ( about 15% of those surveyed said they did this), borrowing money (15%), skipping a meal (11%), driving less (11%) and cutting back on utilities (9%).
The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the beginning of the year, forcing Americans enrolled in ACA health care plans to pay higher premiums. An article from KFF, an independent information organization on national health issues, said that without the enhanced premium tax credits, payments would increase by more than 75%. For example, someone paying $888 annually would have to pay $1,593 without the tax credits.
Ellyn Maese, research director for the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare, told HuffPost in an email that the U.S. health care system is “not working for Americans.”
“With concerns about rising health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs looming for this year, we need to be thinking about what those costs mean for everyday people,” she said. “Without a major change or intervention, millions of Americans will continue to have to make sacrifices, and that number may continue to grow. This research is an important wakeup call about the cost of doing nothing.”
It’s not shocking that the financial strain affects those without health insurance the most, at 62%, and those making less than $24,000 at 55%, the research concluded. But even 25% of households that earn between $90,000 and $120,000 a year said they are making trade-offs to afford health care.
Maese said that the “most striking” part of the study is that in order to afford health care, Americans are making decisions beyond health care spending.
“It is affecting how Americans make daily decisions about spending and how they navigate long-term decisions in their lives as well,” Maese said. “In reality, health care affordability is not just about health care.”
The West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare has been studying health care affordability since 2021, and Maese said health care is a part of the “total affordability picture in America.”
“This means that healthcare is affecting the economy, and society, in many indirect ways that are rarely captured by prevailing metrics,” Maese said. “It also means that we have to start thinking about healthcare as part of the total affordability picture in America.”