Poll Finds Over a Third in US Can’t Access Quality Health Care — a New High

Lack of access to health care has hit a new high in the U.S., with over a third of Americans now unable to access quality care due to cost, new West Health-Gallup polling finds.

The poll, released Wednesday, finds that 35 percent of Americans say they wouldn’t be able to afford quality health care if they needed it today, compared to 29 percent in 2021, when Gallup began polling this question. Meanwhile, the proportion of adults who report being secure in health care costs — meaning that they have access to quality care and can pay for it — has dropped to 51 percent, down from 56 percent in 2021.

The drop in affordability and access has been driven mostly by access being eroded for households making less than $48,000 a year in income, and for Black and Latine Americans. While a majority of Black and Latine adults were classified as “cost secure” in 2021, only 41 percent and 34 percent experience such security now.

The survey was conducted between November and December of 2024, and included nearly 6,300 adults.

Alarmingly, the proportion of Americans classified in the poll as “cost desperate” rose in 2024 compared to past years.

Gallup found that 11 percent of U.S. adults are “cost desperate,” meaning that they can’t access quality, affordable care, and also weren’t able to pay for needed care and medicine recently. This is a three point increase from 2023, when 8 percent were in this category.

The polling is yet more evidence of the erosion of health care and access in the U.S. and the growing gaps between the poorest and richest Americans.

Gallup pointed out that another recent survey by West Health-Gallup found that 12 percent of U.S. adults reported having to borrow money for medical needs in 2024. This amounted to an estimated $74 billion borrowed, the pollsters said. Black and Latine adults were the most likely to have to borrow money to pay for care.

The findings of growing health care unaffordability come despite the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is supposed to help close the care access gap. While the ACA has indeed helped to ensure Americans are insured and can access affordable care, it is still not addressing the root of the problems of health care access in the U.S., experts have said.

Indeed, despite spending the most on health care of wealthy countries, the U.S. still has some of the worst health outcomes among peer countries.

In response to the Gallup survey, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) called for the passage of Medicare for all.

“We spend far more per capita for health care than other nations. Yet, according to Gallup, 91 million Americans could not afford to pay for medical care if they needed it today,” Sanders said. “The Affordable Care Act is not working. We need Medicare for All.”