More Than A Quarter Of Adults Say Health Care Costs Have Caused A Serious Financial Problem

Poll: “Thinking about the cost of your health care over the past two years, how would you describe the overall impact of your health care costs on your family’s financial situation?”

  U.S.
Health care costs caused a serious financial problem 26%
Set up a payment plan with a hospital or health care professional 44%
Spent all or most of my personal savings 42%
Contacted by bill collectors 39%
Unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat or housing 27%
Taken on credit card debt that may be difficult to pay off 23%
Taken out a loan that may be hard to pay back 19%
Declared bankruptcy 7%

Source: NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll “Patients’ Perspectives on Health Care in the United States.” Interviews were conducted via telephone (landline and cellphone) in English and Spanish Sept. 8-Nov. 9, 2015. For national results, the margin of error is +/- 3.8 percentage points.

Credit: Alyson Hurt/NPR