Americans cutting back on all expenses to pay for healthcare

March 12 (UPI) — People in the United States are killing budgets, skipping meals, stretching prescriptions and driving less as they struggle to keep up with healthcare expenses, a survey shows.

Gallup found in a survey that more than one-third of Americans find themselves making “at least” one trade-off in daily expenses to make sure they can afford access to healthcare and pay its associated bills.

With the cost of health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs continuing to rise, and with the expiration of some Affordable Care Act subsidies and changes to Medicare and Medicaid, Gallup reported that people are cutting back on day-to-day requirements, borrowing money and putting off major decisions and long-term planning.

“Collectively, these shifts could leave millions of Americans without health insurance at a time when financial stress is already running high,” the survey organization said in a press release.

For the survey, Gallup interviewed roughly 20,000 adults in the United States between June and August of last year.

Among participants, about one-third — representing roughly 82 million people — said that in the past 12 months they had to make trade-offs in order to afford care or medicine.

Broken down, 15% of participants said they prolonged a current prescription, 15% said they borrowed money, 11% skipped a meal, 11% drove less and 9% cut back on utilities.

The difference between people who did and did not make trade-offs for healthcare access was starkly seen in the split among people with health insurance and people without health insurance: 29% of Americans trading off had coverage, while 62% did not have coverage.

When examined by household income, participants with the lowest income were most likely to report making a trade-off, as 55% who did so made less than $24,000, 47% made between $24,001 and $48,000 and 34% made between $48,001 and $90,000.

On top of this, 62% of people who have made trade-offs to pay for healthcare are in poor health and just under half — 47% — are in fair health.

“Americans are facing cost pressures from all sides,” Gallup said in the report. “Nearly every aspect of daily life has become more expensive, and health care is no exception.”

“As living costs continue to rise, the effects of unaffordable healthcare are not only confined to medical expenses and decisions. These findings show that healthcare costs are shaping how Americans think about the way they live, work and plan for the future,” Gallup said.