About 28% of survey respondents said they skipped some health care last year because they couldn’t afford it, even though other health care costs were rising more rapidly.
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More and more people are putting off getting medical care because of the high cost, According to a new Federal Reserve study.
Last year, about 28% of people said they didn’t get any kind of medical service because they couldn’t afford it, up 4% from the previous year.
In fact, health care costs have increased slowly compared to other costs over the past few years.
But “people’s decisions about access to health care are not driven solely by the price of health care,” said Matthew Fiedler of the University of Southern California and the Brookings Shafer Health Policy Initiative.
It also depends on how much the person earns, whether they have insurance and what other expenses they have, he said. “If people earn less or feel other pressures on their household budgets, there could be cuts in many areas, including health care.”
And Rice University health economist Vivian Ho said many people’s budgets are tight these days.
“I think people are facing difficult choices because of inflation,” she said. “They have to decide, am I going to pay the rent?” Are you going to buy food? Or are you going to get the medical care you can get now, or later? ”
Low-income, critically ill and uninsured people are most likely to delay or omit certain types of care, said Cynthia Cox of the health policy nonprofit KFF.
“They decide if this is something I absolutely need to get or not,” she said. “That’s why the first thing people often put off is taking care of their teeth or taking care of their vision.”
The Fed’s survey also found that people were more likely to skip follow-up doctor visits, mental health care, and issuing prescriptions.
