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.
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.