About one-third of Americans reduced spending on food, utilities, or other everyday needs to afford healthcare last year, according to research released Thursday by the West Health-Gallup Center, highlighting the pressure rising prices and living costs are placing on households in the United States.
The findings are based on a nationally and state-representative survey of nearly 20,000 U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted between June and August 2025. The survey found that 33% of respondents had made at least one financial trade-off in their daily spending in order to pay for healthcare.
The survey found that such trade-offs were far more common among Americans without health insurance. About 62% of uninsured respondents said they had made at least one sacrifice to cover healthcare costs, including 32% who had borrowed money and 24% who had delayed continuing their medications.
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Among those with insurance, nearly three in ten respondents also reported making at least one financial sacrifice to afford healthcare, according to the survey.
Many Americans with private health insurance are also facing higher premiums and increased out-of-pocket expenses in 2026. This includes millions enrolled in government-subsidized plans under the Affordable Care Act, where additional subsidies introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic have now expired.
“We’re actually finding that people are reporting higher incidences of metabolic disease or depression and anxiety. We’re not getting healthier as a society, we’re actually getting sicker, and the healthcare cost is going up on top of it,” said Timothy Lash, president of West Health Policy Center, a nonprofit organization focused on healthcare and aging.
In a separate survey of 5,660 adults in the United States, conducted mainly through Gallup’s panel between October and December last year, many respondents said they had postponed major life decisions over the past four years because of healthcare costs. These delays included plans such as buying a new home or taking a vacation.
The survey, also released on Thursday, found that nearly 9% of respondents had postponed retirement due to healthcare expenses, while about twice as many said they had delayed changing jobs for the same reason.
