March 12, 2026
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More than one-third of U.S. adults are cutting back on other costs to pay their medical bills, a new survey shows.
As many as 1 in 3 Americans – an estimated 82 million people – are making daily tradeoffs in order to pay their medical bills, a new survey says.
Skipping meals, borrowing money, cutting back on utilities and even rationing medications are some of the steps people are taking to afford health care, according to research released Thursday by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America.
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The results of the new poll align with findings from a KFF survey late last year. That poll found just under one half of U.S. adults are having trouble affording health care costs, with about one-third saying they had postponed or skipped a medical treatment in the previous year.
Rising costs are due in part to health insurance premiums for people who take out private health care plans or plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace having more than doubled since Obamacare subsidies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic ended last year. New Medicaid funding cuts and work requirements are also contributing to people having trouble paying medical bills, especially in low-income households.
The new survey found that households earning less than $24,000 a year and people without health insurance are being hit the hardest by rising medical costs.
Still, one quarter of adults in households with annual incomes of $90,000 to $120,000 also reported having to cut back on other expenses to afford care, with 11% of households earning $240,000 or more reporting the same.
"When families across every income level are forced to choose between medical bills and paying their heating or electric bill — that's not a personal budgeting problem — it's a systems failure," said Tim Lash, president of the West Health Policy Center.
The findings come from a survey of a nationally-representative group of 20,000 adults conducted from June through August.
In a different West Health-Gallup survey from last year, more than one quarter of respondents said they were postponing surgeries and other medical treatments because of rising health care costs. Nearly 20% of respondents reported having to change jobs and nearly 15% said they had to buy a different home due to medical bills.
Nearly 1 in 10 people said they delayed retirement, and 6% said they postponed having or adopting children, because of the high medical expenses.
