A shocking 92 percent of US adults not going to the doctor because it’s too expensive
www.independent.co.uk
The decision to delay medical care involves multiple factors, including gender - women are more likely to put off care than men

Some 92 percent have delayed or abandoned medical care because of costs, according to a survey of 1,507 U.S.adults by financial services firm JG Wentworth.

High prices at the doctor’s office, urgent care, emergency room and more have led to 85 percent of Americans having medical debt. Collectively, American consumers have $220 billion in medical debt, according to a February poll from KFF - that’s around $958.61 per adult with medical debt.

Nearly one in five adults said their health got worse because they skipped a doctor’s visit. That problem is more acute for those 64 and younger - 42 percent say their health got worse after putting off a medical visit.

  • mechoman444@lemmy.world
    51·
    2 hours ago

    The “92% of Americans aren’t going to the doctor because it’s too expensive” claim is misleading.

    The 92% figure comes from a survey of just 1,507 U.S. adults conducted for financial-services company JG Wentworth. It reportedly found that 92% had delayed or abandoned some form of medical care because of cost. That is very different from saying that 92% of Americans don’t go to the doctor, or that only 8% of Americans “attend to their health.”

    There is much better independent data showing that cost really is a major problem, but the numbers are nowhere near 92%. KFF’s 2025 national polling found that 36% of adults said they had skipped or postponed needed health care during the previous year because of cost. KFF also found that 37% of insured adults reported doing so, so having insurance clearly doesn’t eliminate the problem.

    Even better, an analysis using National Health Interview Survey data, rather than a private company’s survey, found that about 17% of U.S. adults delayed or did not get health care because of cost in 2024.

    So the underlying story is absolutely legitimate: healthcare costs are causing millions of Americans to delay or forgo care. But presenting a JG Wentworth survey’s 92% figure as though it means “only 8% of Americans seek medical care” is a pretty substantial distortion of what the survey actually measured.

    The more defensible takeaway is: American healthcare is expensive enough that a significant minority of Americans are delaying needed care because they cannot afford it. That’s bad enough without turning the statistic into something it doesn’t actually say.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
      2·
      46 minutes ago

      American healthcare is expensive enough that a significant minority of Americans are delaying needed care because they cannot afford it

      Is this not too strong wording to the point where it may be downplaying it?

      Would it be safer to say American healthcare is expensive enough that a significant number of Americans are delaying needed care because they cannot afford it?

    • ki4jgt@feddit.org
      3·
      2 hours ago

      Every report like this uses a small sample size to represent the entire population. Do you think they’re surveying 400 million people?

      The question is, how did they get these 1500 people, and can it be repeated? If so, then the data is valid.

      But basically, a lot hangs on how random their sample size was. Did they stick to one area? Did they stick to one age group, sex, etc. All in all, if the sample group is random, 1500 people is a valid measure for this data.

      After this, there needs to be peer review. Other institutions need to be able to repeat the results with their own random groups.

      But, 1500 is a great sample size. Just need to make sure it’s random and repeatable.