A new KFF Health Tracking Poll offers a blunt data point for anyone collecting or servicing medical balances: healthcare costs now top the public’s list of “can I afford this?” worries, ahead of utilities, food, housing, and gas. Two-thirds of adults (66%) say they worry about affording healthcare for themselves and their families, and a majority (55%) say their healthcare costs increased over the past year.
By the numbers (and why your team should care):
- Cost of living pressure is broad: 82% say their cost of living increased in the past year (50% say it increased “a lot”).
- Health care leads the anxiety list: 32% say they are “very worried” about health care affordability (higher than food, rent/mortgage, or utilities).
- Health care is rising faster than other essentials for many: among those reporting increases, 23% say health care rose faster than utilities and 21% faster than food.
- The outlook is not calming down: 56% expect their family’s health care costs to become less affordable in the next year.
What it means operationally for medical AR and collections
- Expect more “can’t pay” narratives that are real, not scripted. That increases the importance of frictionless hardship options, clear payment plan math, and fast escalation paths for charity care or financial assistance screening (where applicable).
- Forecast more volatility in cure curves and contact outcomes, especially on self-pay and post-insurance residual balances, because consumers are signaling less slack in household budgets.
- On the compliance and CX side, higher anxiety usually correlates with higher complaint sensitivity. Tighten tone, disclosures, and documentation around disputes and billing confusion so preventable escalations do not become regulatory or litigation events.
