Katharina Buczek
Virtually no one gave the healthcare system’s affordability an A grade (one percent), and only six percent of Americans awarded affordability a B grade. C’s were also few and far between, with only nineteen percent of adults giving affordability this middle-ground grade.
Still, Americans’ views on the quality of care might come as a shock since this area did receive more positive grading. Forty-seven percent of U.S. adults awarded care quality an A or B. However, this only helped push the average grade to a C-plus.
So, these four areas combined earned the American healthcare system an overall average grade of C-minus– with forty-four percent of U.S. adults awarding poor or failing grades of D or F.
And if these ratings are unsurprising to you, Timothy Lash, the president of West Health, agrees.
“After years of higher prices, growing inequities, skipping treatments, getting sicker, or borrowing money to pay medical bills, it’s no wonder so many Americans view the health system so poorly,” Lash said.
Additional findings from the survey only underpin these realities. For example, a whopping sixty percent of Americans reported that cost is a significant factor when deciding to receive a recommended medication or medical procedure.
“When members of my family have needed surgeries or medications, they have to really consider how much medical debt they’re willing to go into,” reported Stef Schloo, a twenty-eight-year-old survey respondent from Pennsylvania.
Plus, seventeen percent of Americans revealed that they have had to cut back on health care services just to pay for other household necessities.
And tragically, fifty percent of the U.S. adult population– or about one hundred and twenty-nine people– are afraid that they will not be able to afford healthcare as they get older.
Now, though, these responses should hopefully help inform America’s next step in battling this healthcare crisis.
“While America’s grading of the U.S. health care system is troubling, it provides a roadmap for health care systems and policymakers to invest and fix areas with the greatest impact to shift sentiment,” explained Dan Witters, the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index Research Director.
