New Study Reveals More Struggling to Afford Healthcare

The percentage of Americans who can afford and access prescription drugs and quality healthcare stands at a new low of 55%, a six-point decline since 2022, according to the West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index. The index was developed in 2021 to track the percentage of Americans who say they have avoided medical care or not filled prescription medications in the last three months and whether they believe they could afford care if they needed it today.

The downturn is largely attributed to two groups — adults aged 50 to 64 (down eight points to 55%) and those aged 65 and older (down eight points to 71%), a troubling sign since Medicare eligibility for most Americans begins at 65. The percentage of adults under 50 who could readily afford healthcare was the lowest of any age group at 47%, a five-point decline since 2022.

For the index, researchers grouped Americans into one of the following three categories depending on how they reported their ease or difficulty paying for and accessing medical care, including prescribed drugs: 1. Cost Secure — no recent problems with affording and accessing healthcare and prescriptions, 2. Cost Insecure — recently unable to either pay for care or medicine or unable to access it, 3. Cost Desperate — recently unable to pay for care and medicine and lack immediate access to quality care.

“After an uptick in 2022, healthcare affordability in America is headed in the wrong direction,” said Timothy Lash, President, West Health, a nonprofit focused on aging and healthcare research, policy and philanthropy. “The good news is that healthcare provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act — including empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, which has not yet taken effect — may help slow these negative trends and provide more stability. But much more must be done to rein in prices for Americans of all ages. High prices are one of the biggest impediments to a healthy aging population and a prosperous economy.”

Forty-five percent of American adults report struggling to cover their medical bills and are either Cost Insecure or Cost Desperate. Younger adults are more than three times as likely to be Cost Desperate than those 65 and older (10% vs. 3%). The percentage of people aged 50 to 64 years old considered Cost Desperate has risen to 10%, the highest level measured for this group so far. Racial and gender divides have also widened, with Black (11%) and Hispanic (14%) adults considerably more likely to fall in the Cost Desperate category than their White counterparts (7%) and women (11%) nearly twice as likely as men (6%).

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