TITLE: In U.S., Affording Healthcare More of a Struggle Since 2022
https://news.gallup.com/poll/646994/affording-healthcare-struggle-2022.aspx
EXCERPT: The West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index is part of the West Health‑Gallup 2024 Survey on Aging in America, conducted by web and mail from Nov. 13, 2023, to Jan. 8, 2024, with 5,149 adults aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as part of the Gallup Panel™. The Healthcare Affordability Index determines affordability based on responses in three key areas:
Care avoidance: Has there been a time in the last three months when you or a member of your household had a health problem, but you did not seek treatment due to the cost of care?
Skipped treatments: Has there been a time in the last three months when you or a member of your household has been unable to pay for medicine or drugs that a doctor had prescribed for you because you did not have enough money to pay for them?
Difficulty today: If you needed access to quality healthcare today, would you be able to afford it?
Based on these three metrics, researchers determined Americans fall into one of three categories of affordability:
"Cost secure": Persons reporting no recent occurrences of a household member being unable to afford care or prescribed medicine and could afford quality healthcare if they needed it today.
"Cost insecure": Persons reporting recent occurrences of being unable to pay for care or medicine or lacking easy access.
"Cost desperate": Persons reporting recent occurrences of being unable to pay for care and prescribed medicine and saying they would not have access to affordable quality care if needed today.
Significant Practical Implications Exist for Being Cost Desperate
There are substantial differences in healthcare and financial experiences and outcomes between those who are cost secure and those who are cost desperate. Compared with those who are cost secure, those categorized as cost desperate are:
at least 10 times more likely to have cut back on utilities and food to pay for needed care in the past 12 months
seven times more likely to have had a family member or friend die in the past 12 months after not receiving needed treatment due to an inability to pay for it
21 times more likely to be “extremely concerned” that their household will be unable to pay for needed prescription drugs in the next 12 months
29 times more likely to be “extremely concerned” that their household will be unable to pay for needed healthcare services in the next 12 months
Bottom Line
The decline since 2022 in the percentage of Americans categorized as cost secure is a troubling development made even more worrisome by steeper drops among Americans aged 50 and older, as well as Black and Hispanic adults.
According to the recently released West Health-Gallup 2024 Survey on Aging in America Report, an estimated 72.2 million people -- or about one in three U.S. adults -- did not seek needed healthcare in the prior three months due to cost, including 8.1 million Americans aged 65 and older. And nearly a third (31%), in turn, were concerned about their ability to pay for prescription drugs in the next 12 months, up from 25% in 2022.
After a modest upward trend in 2022, healthcare affordability is declining for more people.
TITLE: Americans spend more on health care than any other nation. Yet almost half can't afford care.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/health-care-almost-half-of-americans-struggle-to-afford-medical-care/
EXCERPT: Americans spend an average of $12,555 per person annually on health care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health Care Tracker. By comparison, typical health care spending across other developed nations is about $6,651, their analysis found.
"What we found as we string together the trend of data points is really quite concerning," Lash said. "It's that health care affordability has been getting worse — it shines a light on the number of families that can't afford things like prescription drugs."
Rising insurance costs
The average family insurance deductible in the U.S. stood at about $3,800 in 2022, up from $2,500 in 2013, according to KFF. The IRS considers insurance for families with deductibles of $3,200 or more to be high deductible plans.
Americans with health care insurance are also struggling to afford coverage, with some complaining that their insurers are putting up roadblocks to gaining access to care. On Monday, for example, demonstrators outside of UnitedHealthcare headquarters protested what they allege is the company's practice of refusing to approve care through prior authorization denials or through claim denials.
"Health insurance coverage has expanded in America, but we are finding it is private health insurance corporations themselves that are often the largest barrier for people to receive the care
they and their doctor agree they need," Aija Nemer-Aanerud, campaign director with the People's Action Institute, told CBS Minnesota.
A spokesperson for UnitedHealthcare told CBS Minnesota it had resolved the issues raised by protesters.
TITLE: Why Is Accessing Good Dental Care Like Pulling Teeth?
https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2024/07/17/why-is-accessing-good-dental-care-like-pulling-teeth/ideas/essay/
EXCERPT: It’s strange … that our teeth—the hardest structures in our bodies—are so often neglected, by individuals and society. Indeed, they seem to exemplify and exacerbate all the worst aspects of American healthcare.
That starts with preventive care, or a lack thereof: The American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute estimates that less than half of Americans visited a dentist in 2021. One reason getting people to the dentist is like pulling teeth is because as a society, we just don’t want to pay for it— just 73% of the U.S. population has dental insurance, millions fewer than the 91% with health insurance. And we don’t trust our dentists. Our anxiety about cleanings and treatments lead to avoidance, which leads to elevated pain, which only compounds the problem.
Poor dental care affects the rest of our bodies, too. Nitrate-reducing bacteria that live on the tongue convert nitrate, a compound in leafy green vegetables, into nitrite, a molecule our bodies use to produce nitric oxide, key to lowering blood pressure. There’s evidence that people with preeclampsia, or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, have fewer of these nitrate-reducing species on their tongues. Frequent tongue brushing, but not antiseptic mouthwash, increases the abundance of these good bacteria.
Chronic inflammation in the mouth, including from persistent infection of the gums and teeth, can stress the heart and lead to increased risk of clogged arteries and heart attacks. Gum disease-related microbes that enter the bloodstream have been linked to inflammatory diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Tooth decay, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis are more common among people of color, and lower socioeconomic status has been shown to correlate with worse treatment outcomes. The ways we care for our mouths, then, may aggravate existing disparities—and the landscape for dental care is fraught.
According to the CareQuest Institute, a nonprofit aiming to increase equity in dental care, 93% of people living in poverty need dental care they aren’t getting. For many, it’s simply too expensive. A 2022 study from researchers at the American Dental Association found only about a third of dentists treat Medicaid patients. (Dentists are often paid less for treating patients on Medicaid.) In another ADA study, nearly 17% of adults reported that the cost of treatment prevented them from receiving dental care, more than twice the rate reported for other medical treatments. This cost barrier affects more than 1 in 5 Black patients and 1 in 4 Hispanic patients.
Unless something changes, these broad health disparities seem likely to get worse.