By Nathalie Voit
Higher healthcare costs have prompted some Americans to take drastic steps.
According to a recent Gallup poll released on Aug. 4, more than one in four U.S. adults (26%) are delaying or avoiding medical treatment due to rising healthcare costs. This includes skipping medicine or prescription drug purchases.
Lower-income adults are much more likely to report foregoing medicine or care due to healthcare inflation than adults from upper-income households (41% for those making less than $24k a year vs. 11% for those making $180k a year or more).
Women are also more likely than men to report cutting back on healthcare (30% vs. 22%). Young women are particularly at risk of being unable to afford medical treatment, with more than one in three women under 50 (36%) paring back on healthcare purchases due to higher prices.
Americans are not just spending less on healthcare but across all household categories due to inflation. The survey found that three-fifths of adults (59%) report driving less, 30% report trimming their utility usage, and one in five (21%) report delaying or avoiding medical care or purchasing prescription drugs because of the higher prices of goods in general.
Overall, 70% of Americans are changing their consumption habits due to the higher cost of living.
“The effect of inflation exacerbates an already significant issue for millions of Americans struggling to pay for healthcare and medicine,” Gallup said. “Prior findings from the 2021 West Health-Gallup Healthcare Study showed that an estimated 18% of adults, or about 46 million people, could not afford needed care if they required it today and that 7% of Americans have been unable to pay for prescribed drugs in the prior three months.”
According to consumer price data released on Aug. 10 by the Department of Labor, healthcare prices rose 4.8% year-over-year in July, up from 4.5% in June.
