---
title: "Rising Healthcare Costs: A Financial Burden for Americans"
id: "kff-health-news-0-the-cost-of-healthcare-is-hitting-america-where-it-hurts-the-wallet"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/kff-health-news-0-the-cost-of-healthcare-is-hitting-america-where-it-hurts-the-wallet"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "General"
source_name: "KFF Health News"
source_url: "https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/priced-out-healthcare-costs-medical-debt-insurance-disability-chronic-conditions/"
published_at: "2026-10-26T09:00:00.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Rising Healthcare Costs: A Financial Burden for Americans
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/kff-health-news-0-the-cost-of-healthcare-is-hitting-america-where-it-hurts-the-wallet
- **Specialty:** [General](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/general.md)
- **Primary Source:** KFF Health News
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/priced-out-healthcare-costs-medical-debt-insurance-disability-chronic-conditions/)
- **Published At:** 2026-10-26T09:00:00.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- Many Americans are struggling to afford healthcare due to rising costs. - Reported cases include individuals skipping medical visits and cutting lifesaving medication in order to save money. - Recent data indicates healthcare spending reached nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, showing a significant yearly increase. - High costs are attributed to expensive services, rising prices, and inadequate federal support. - The issue cuts across various income levels, impacting the financial stability of many families. - Calls for reform in the healthcare system grow as costs continue to escalate.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
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It can be [republished for free](https://kffhealthnews.org/republish/health-care-costs/priced-out-healthcare-costs-medical-debt-insurance-disability-chronic-conditions/). * * * **RELATED COVERAGE** ![](https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2026/10/hero-alluvial-7x2-1.png) **[Digging Into the Money Behind the US Healthcare System](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/money-us-healthcare-system-gdp-economy-nhe-prices-graphics/)** Healthcare makes up a growing share of the U.S. economy — and household budgets. We break down how much money the nation is spending and on what. [Read More](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/money-us-healthcare-system-gdp-economy-nhe-prices-graphics/) Bill McAdams, a 45-year-old travel nurse from Holiday, Florida, was uninsured last year when he experienced a stroke. He hadn’t been able to afford his agency’s health plan, which would have cost $3,600 monthly to cover him and his wife. The hospital that treated him sent him a bill for $93,000. Janet Marx, 56, of Milford, Connecticut, has doubled up on insurance coverage through her husband’s employer and Medicare because she has lupus and fibromyalgia, disabling chronic conditions. Still the couple sold their home, the house where Marx grew up, to afford the costs of their medical care. Sheila Robinson, 61, in District Heights, Maryland, has a $10,000 deductible on her Affordable Care Act plan, so she tries to negotiate cheaper self-pay options when she sees a doctor. She puts the $659 monthly premium on her credit card, even though she knows not paying the bill in full means she must pay interest. “I am just afraid to even go to the doctor,” said Robinson, who has arthritis, a pinched nerve in her neck, and high blood pressure. “Every month, I am in the hole.” This year, KFF Health News [has chronicled](https://kffhealthnews.org/priced-out/) how rising healthcare costs are upending the lives of Americans. Reporters have heard from more than 130 people across the U.S. who are trying to afford their premiums, copayments, prescriptions, and medical bills even as housing, energy, and food costs swell. People told us they are forgoing health insurance coverage, rationing their medications, cutting back on doctor visits, and putting off health procedures. “We’re not talking about the uninsured or those who are low-income who are struggling now,” said [Rebecca Kirch](https://www.npaf.org/team/rebecca-kirch-jd/), executive vice president at the National Patient Advocate Foundation. “Now it’s become an all-of-us issue.” While healthcare costs have largely [grown faster](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spending-healthcare-changed-time/#Total%20national%20health%20expenditures,%201970-2024) than the overall economy for decades, they’ve escalated at a dizzying pace recently. In 2023 and 2024, health spending [hit its highest growth rates](https://www.ama-assn.org/about/ama-research/trends-healthcare-spending) in two decades excluding 2020’s covid-fueled surge. The prices that hospitals, doctors, and other clinicians charge have increased, along with [how much care](https://www.ama-assn.org/about/ama-research/more-utilization-drives-us-health-spending-nearly-53-trillion) people are getting. Overall health spending hit nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, up from $3 trillion a decade earlier, according to [federal data](https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet). American health costs, expected to continue growing faster than the overall economy and help fuel it, are projected to hit 20% of the nation’s gross domestic product by 2032, up from just under 19% today. ![](https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2026/10/Sheila-Robinson_4x5web.jpg)Sheila Robinson in District Heights, Maryland, saw the monthly premium payment and deductible for her Affordable Care Act plan skyrocket this year. She pays her premium with a credit card and says she can’t afford to go to the doctor. (Sheila Robinson) At the same time, Americans are shouldering higher insurance premium payments and other out-of-pocket costs. Low-income and middle-class people with health conditions are feeling the brunt. The GOP-led Congress decided against extending covid pandemic-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and cut billions from other federal health programs to offset the costs of tax cuts for wealthy Americans and heightened immigration enforcement, arguing that government insurance programs are rife with fraud and waste. Despite $500 rebate checks sent by President Donald Trump to fewer than 5% of higher-income ACA marketplace enrollees, his administration has been [expanding access](https://www.kff.org/patient-consumer-protections/policy-changes-bring-renewed-focus-on-high-deductible-health-plans/) to insurance plans with higher deductibles and lower premiums that push more costs to patients if they need care. Employers are passing along rising healthcare costs to employees, and clinicians are [charging patients up front](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/hospital-prepayment-requirements-upfront-patient-insurance-deductible/). It’s not all bad news for consumers: Prescription drugs [recorded their biggest price drop](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/13/prescription-drug-prices-record-sharpest-drop-more-than-60-years/) in decades this year. The Biden and Trump administrations both worked to help lower them amid consumer pressure. But many say they’re still feeling the pain of rising prices. Ahead of the November congressional midterm elections, healthcare costs continue to [top a list](https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/kff-health-tracking-poll-health-care-issues-in-the-lead-up-to-the-2026-midterm-election/) of the public’s worries about affordability, according to polling conducted in mid-September by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Nine in 10 Democratic respondents and three-quarters of Republican ones said the U.S. healthcare system needs either a complete overhaul or major changes. ******She Sold Her Childhood Home To Afford Healthcare****** **Janet Marx, 56 Milford, Connecticut** Janet Marx is on Medicare and has health insurance through her husband’s employer plan. She also receives Social Security disability income because she has fibromyalgia and the disabling autoimmune condition lupus. But she and her husband still struggle to afford their out-of-pocket medical costs. She’s so frustrated about high healthcare costs that she was a guest speaker at an online event for the National Patient Advocate Foundation. Having to scrounge to cover a recent string of $80 copayments for in-home physical therapy led her to an “aha moment,” she said. She sold her home, the place where she grew up, and the couple moved into an apartment. “Things are just getting too expensive to afford the house and health problems,” she said. _— Renuka Rayasam and Sam Whitehead_ ******His Premiums Went Up. Now He’s Cutting Back To Make Ends Meet.****** **Damien Waikoloa, 35 Honolulu, Hawai‘i ** Damien Waikoloa wanted to keep health insurance to manage several chronic conditions, even though premium payments for his ACA plan went up to more than $400 a month, from around $240 a month last year. But keeping his coverage meant the small-business owner in Honolulu had to cut back on other spending. He’s trying to reduce the costs of running his business, including considering lowering his own pay. And he’s cutting back on dining out and traveling to visit friends and family in Seattle and California. “Things like saving for a down payment for a house or even starting a family have completely gone out the window,” he said. _— Renuka Rayasam_ **‘Profit Margins Everywhere’** The typical American family [spends about $5,600 a year](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/household-health-spending-calculator/), or 9% of their income, on health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket healthcare costs, and taxes that fund health programs, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. But overall, the nation’s annual healthcare spending comes to the equivalent of [more than $15,400 per person](https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet). The reason behind those high U.S. healthcare costs is straightforward: The prices that clinicians, hospitals, drugmakers, and other players in the health system charge are high. For example, while doctors in the U.S. perform about a third as many inpatient knee replacements as in other wealthy nations, the cost per surgery is higher than in most of those countries, [according to](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/how-do-healthcare-prices-and-use-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries/#Inpatient%20knee%20replacement%20surgeries%20per%20100,000%20persons%C2%A0%20and%20estimated%20cost%20per%20inpatient%20total%20knee%20replacement%20by%20insurance%20type,%20U.S.%20dollars,%202022) the Peterson-KFF tracker. More recently, multiple trends have driven that price growth in the U.S., health economists and policy researchers said. [Hospitals are merging](https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/hospital-mergers-monopolies-drive-healthcare-costs-asheville-north-carolina/) and using their [consolidated market power](https://kffhealthnews.org/news/vertical-integration-high-health-costs-prices-hospital-mergers-pharmacies-pbms/) to [charge more](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7517591/). New technologies and therapeutics, such as GLP-1s for weight loss and diabetes, have high price tags. Inflation and the Trump administration’s tariffs are layering costs onto everything from latex gloves to medical devices. And higher numbers of uninsured Americans means fewer people to bear more of the costs. “It’s really everything all together at once,” said [Christopher Whaley](https://vivo.brown.edu/display/cmwhaley), a Brown University health policy researcher. Health Spending Surpassed $15K per Person in 2024 The increase is not necessarily because we’re sicker, but because of increased prices. Note: Dollar amounts are adjusted for inflation and shown in 2024 dollars. Source: [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ national health expenditure data](https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet); Bureau of Economic Analysis’ personal consumption expenditure data Credit: Lydia Zuraw/KFF Health News Why the U.S. has high healthcare prices, however, is more complicated. Whaley and other health economists point to how the American healthcare system is structured and financed. Clinician charges and administrative costs are higher in the U.S. than in other countries. The U.S. doesn’t centrally set all prices for services, ration care, or control for quality. In most local American markets, insurers negotiate prices with hospitals, clinicians, and drugmakers, which then charge for every test, procedure, or medicine regardless of its outcome. More than half of all healthcare payments were based on this fee-for-service model, according to a 2022 [research brief](https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/briefs/value-based-payment-tool-address-excess-us-health-spending) published in the journal Health Affairs. Under this model, hospitals and doctors make more as they bill more. The complexity of different billing systems, rates, insurers, and networks adds to the price tag. The cost of sending out bills and managing paperwork can be [hundreds of billions of dollars](https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/briefs/role-administrative-waste-excess-us-health-spending). Insurers [try to keep](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2848374) medical costs in check, in part by [limiting what they’ll reimburse](https://kffhealthnews.org/series/denied/). They also take their own cut along the way. “There’s profit margins everywhere, and there are varying degrees of financial incentives throughout the healthcare system,” Whaley said. The incentives, however, don’t necessarily promote better health. ![Newsletter Icon](https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/plugins/kff-shared/dist//images/newsletter-icon.png) #### Email Sign-Up Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing. Your Email Address Sign Up [Steven Ullmann](https://people.miami.edu/profile/166a9c6f4bd14b0e0611568cdb25b285), director of the Center for Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami Business School, where he’s a professor, said that the country’s health system encourages expensive treatments over low-cost preventive care. He said that keeps people locked into seeing clinicians because they’re in their insurance networks, not necessarily because they produce better outcomes. Even though people in the U.S. pay more for care than in other countries, Ullmann said higher prices don’t always mean better quality. For example, he said the prices for prenatal ultrasounds in Orlando vary widely with no obvious difference in quality. “Same city, same procedure,” Ullmann said. “That is a reflection of a broken system.” And those high prices can keep people from seeking needed services. ![](https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2026/10/Carmilla-Collins_4x5web.jpg)Carmilla Collins in Omaha, Nebraska, had her wages garnished after struggling to pay her medical bills. She almost couldn’t pay rent before qualifying for financial assistance. (Carmilla Collins) In 2025, a health system [garnished the wages](https://kffhealthnews.org/courts/colorado-wage-garnishment-health-care-medical-debt-collections-medicaid/) of Carmilla Collins, 52, of Omaha, Nebraska. Collins, a single mother, said she didn’t question the tests or medicines doctors ordered when she got diagnosed with thyroid disease or received regular preventive procedures such as a colonoscopy — until she found herself in debt. The hospital hired a collection agency to sue her for unpaid medical bills that she accrued when she was both insured and uninsured. Then a court allowed
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