Americans Are Worried About the Cost of Their Healthcare (and they have good reason)

By CASEY QUINLAN, HELEN HASKELL, BILL ADAMS, JOHN JAMES, ROBERT R. SCULLY, and POPPY ARFORD Last year, the Patient Council of the Right Care Alliance conducted a survey in which over 1,000 Americans answered questions about what worried them most about their healthcare. We asked questions about access to care, concerns about misdiagnosis, and risks of treatment, which we reported on in our last THCB piece about the What Worries You Most survey. We also asked people to rank their concerns about the costs of their care, in five questions that covered cost of care, cost of prescription drugs, cost and availability of insurance, and surprise billing. In the time since we ran the survey, everything has changed in American healthcare. The COVID19 pandemic is filling emergency rooms wherever the epidemic arrives. Bills are likely to be high, for both patients and insurers, and it is still far from clear how they will be paid. Americans are likely to continue to worry deeply about healthcare costs, with good reason, since it’s only in America that someone can go bankrupt due to seeking medical care. Below are the questions we asked, and some commentary on how survey sentiment might be impacted by the COVID19 pandemic: 1. I can’t afford my care if I become ill or injured. Sixty-six percent of our survey respondents said they were very or somewhat worried about affording care if they got sick, or were hurt. Even if you have “good insurance,” usually an employer ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Bill Adams Casey Quinlan cost of care Costs Economics Health Care Costs Helen Haskell John James Patient Council of the Right Care Alliance Poppy Arford Robert R. Scully Source Type: blogs