The West Health-Gallup survey finds almost half of adults say they’re worried they won’t be able to afford health care in 2026.
Americans are going into 2026 more anxious about health care costs than at any other point in recent years, a new West Health-Gallup survey finds.
Almost half of adults, 47%, say they’re worried they won’t be able to afford health care next year — the highest level since West Health and Gallup began tracking in 2021, the survey published Tuesday found.
Concerns about prescription drug costs have climbed steadily, the survey found — rising from 30% in 2021 to 37% in 2025, also the highest level recorded. And the share of adults who say health care costs cause “a lot of stress” in their daily lives has nearly doubled since 2022, rising from 8% to 15%. The survey also found that about 1 in 3 adults reported delaying or skipping medical care over the last year because they couldn’t afford it.
I am just straight up pissed more than anxious. I’ve been with the same place for 20 years and have seen it all. The last 8 years have been about the same which was around $450 a month for a family of 4. I can’t really complain at all about that. This year alone? They addressed it right away warning us. We’ll after signing up for the same tier, which is now worse in every way as well, it’s now $1300 a month. So this place that has barely given any raises in the past 5 years is now actively taking away an extra $1k a month extra starting next year for a service worse than i get now. Im nervous and angry and just not sure what to do exactly.
Can you refuse coverage? If mine shoots up like that I might consider it since it’s probably cheaper to just save that money and pay out of pocket for me
Yeah you can, there isn’t even a federal penalty anymore. Need to check what state your in because some have state penalties.
There are also some new doctors that are starting subscription clinics. You pay a monthly amount and they do everything. It’s kind of a new concept, there are some that are very expensive but will cover any hospital costs for big stuff. Other models are more affordable and then people usually get a cheap policy for catastrophic things outside the practices abilities.
I could opt out, but with it not being just me I would not feel right doing that. My wife has a lot of issues so she is in and out of doctors and hospitals monthly. On top of that my 1 kid also has services covered by insurance. Sadly I am sure it would definitely cost me more if I stopped coverage. If it was just me I would consider doing that, although having no insurance here means you have to pay a penalty when you do your taxes. I have no idea how much that is.
although having no insurance here means you have to pay a penalty when you do your taxes.
There isn’t a federal penalty, that got removed in 2019. There are still various state penalties, and when you did or didn’t have health insurance plays into whether you can get subsidies and how much it will be.
People think because they still issue that 1095-C to everyone that means the penalty is still in play. It’s confusing, probably purposefully to try to nudge more people into health insurance pools.
I will admit I never looked into it, but I always saw it as a question when I did my taxes. It was never something I thought of since it’s always been available to me. I did just look and I live in a state where they collect shared responsibility payment (SRP) and they let me calculate it which came to me owing $3375 for the year if I did say no. Overall thats not a bad alternative at $281 a month, but it feels to much like a complete waste by throwing it away on nothing.
Keeping us all in survival mode while desensitizing us to our new technofacist police state. The corporations and the oligarchs will more directly decide who lives and dies.
The death panels are here
Duh. People are finally noticing just how bad it’s gotten. Even the well off middle® class are feeling just how horrible prices in the US have gotten.
Doubled our already outrageous insurance premiums, minimizing applicable coverage across the board, all so we can give away even more tax breaks to the rich and corporations who exploit us for all possible value and provide nothing in return. Yeah, people are anxious about this, and pretty much nobody in power is doing jack shit to help us.
I’ve been extremely fortunate to land a job that not only pays for my insurance, but also my wife’s. On top of that, they also give us both a card to cover literally everything until we hit our deductible. None of it costs me a dime.
That being said, I don’t expect it to last long. It can’t be cheap for them to do that for us.
they also give us both a card to cover literally everything
get back to us if you actually have to use it.
