KFF Poll Reveals the Challenges Americans Face in Meeting Their Healthcare Costs

Recent polling by KFF has provided insights into the numerous challenges that Americans face in meeting their health care costs. The poll, conducted in May and whose findings were published in June this year, shows that one of the major worries that American families face is having unexpected medical bills to pay. 

From the poll, the research team found that nearly half of all adults in the U.S. find it difficult to afford their health care costs. 1-in-4 of those polled also revealed that they or a member of their household had experienced problems in meeting their health care costs within the previous 12 months. 

Further analysis of the poll data showed that Hispanics and Black adults in America, those who are low-income earners, and those without medical insurance featured prominently among respondents that admitted that they faced significant challenges in footing their medical bills within the previous 12 months. 

Another disturbing finding was that health care costs push many to put off receiving the medical care that they need. 36% of the individuals polled revealed that within the past 12 months, they postponed or skipped getting the medical care they needed as a result of the costs involved. When adults without insurance were polled on this matter, a vast majority, 75% of them, said they forewent receiving needed medical care due to the costs involved. This was especially true for individuals who are less than 65 years and don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. 

Many American adults also fail to fill prescriptions due to the cost of those medications. 1-in-5 of the respondents said they were unable to have their prescription filled due to the cost of those drugs. A similar fraction, 23%, admitted that they were compelled to opt for OTC (over-the-counter) alternatives to the prescribed medication due to cost factors. 

It gets even worse. About one out of every seven adults that were polled revealed that they either skipped taking their medication or cut their pills in half during the past 12 months in order to stretch the duration their medicine could last before they have to buy more. 33% of the respondents said they had used at least one of these “cost-cutting” interventions within the preceding 12 months, with uninsured people and women strongly featuring in this group of people who resorted to these methods. 

The report uncovers many other disturbing insights about the challenges that Americans are facing with regard to the cost of health care. The writing is on the wall for entities like Astiva Health that focus on providing Medical Advantage plans to minority groups; plenty needs to be done to bring more members of their target demographics into the bracket of those with health care insurance because every measure that can be taken to reduce the weight of medical care costs upon these vulnerable groups needs to be taken. 

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Astiva Health are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/Astiva 

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