1 in 3 Americans make financial trade-offs to afford healthcare: Gallup

One in 3 Americans have made trade-offs  —such as prolonging a prescription or skipping a meal —to afford healthcare, according to a March 12 article from Gallup.

The insights come from surveys of 19,535 U.S. adults conducted by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare between June 9 and Aug. 25.

Here are five things to know:

1. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they have made one or more financial trade-offs to pay for healthcare expenses in the past 12 months. The most common examples were prolonging a prescription or borrowing money, each cited by 15% of respondents.

2. Other reported trade-offs were skipping a meal (11%), driving less (11%) and cutting back on utilities (9%).

3. The trade-offs were more common among those without health insurance. While 29% of insured respondents reported making one of the trade-offs to afford care, 62% of uninsured respondents said they had made one in the past 12 months.

4. More than half of respondents with household incomes below $24,000 a year reported making at least one trade-off to pay for care. 

5. Respondents who said they were in poor or fair health were also more likely to have made one or more trade-offs to pay for care, at 62% and 47%, respectively.

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