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Struggle To Pay for Health Care Continues for 25% of Americans

August 19, 2008 —One in four Americans is struggling with paying for health care. Health care ranks as a “serious problem” rated above paying for food (18%), problems with debt (16%), and paying the rent or mortgage (15%) and below paying for gas (37%) or getting a good paying job or raise in pay (26%) in a new survey.

Among the 24% who find paying for health care or health insurance a serious problem, those in the poorest health and those with the most need disproportionately report difficulties. The figures are from the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008.

The poll also reported: that one-half of the uninsured said paying for health care is a serious problem. And approximately four in 10 of those with annual household incomes under $30,000 (42%), those living with omeone who requires care (42%), those who report their physical health as “fair” or “poor” (40%), and the unemployed (37%) reported struggling with the cost of health care. 

Members of two minority groups, Hispanics (39%) and African Americans (35%), indicate disproportionate problems paying for care.

Three in 10 of those with two or more hospital overnight stays (31%) and two or more emergency room visits (30%) in the past year also report problems paying for care.

“The economic downturn has heightened the pain of paying for health care for many Americans, but as this latest tracking poll shows, especially for people who are sick, lower income or uninsured,” said Drew Altman, Kaiser’s president and CEO.

The August poll, the ninth in a new series designed and analyzed by the Kaiser Foundation’s public opinion research team, also examines public perception of the major presidential candidates’ positions on health care and reform.

Generally, the public’s perception of Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D. Ill.) and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R. Ariz.) on health-care issues indicated that Obama maintained the advantage on these issues.When asked who better represents their own personal health-care views, nearly two times as many registered voters named Obama (42%) as they did McCain (24%). Independent voters are a key factor for Obama’s rating on health care as they were more likely to see him as reflecting their own views on the topic — 37% versus 21% for McCain.

When voters were asked which candidate “would be more likely to make health-care reform a top priority,” roughly three times as many voters mentioned Obama (58%) as they did McCain (20%). A majority (56%) of independent voters and even three in 10 (29%) Republicans said they think Obama would be more likely to make health reform a top priority.

When voters are asked about the candidates’ abilities to address specific aspects of health care, Obama was chosen by a majority to do more to expand coverage for the uninsured (63%) and make health insurance more affordable (54%).  Voters appeared split on which candidate would do more to lower overall health-care spending with McCain garnering 36% and Obama 34%.

Health care held its position among the top voting issues according to the August Election 2008 Tracking Poll, but was not a dominant voting issue. The economy (49%) was the top voting issue with Iraq (25%), gas prices (18%), and health care (16%) rounding out the top four.

The poll involved a national representative random sample of 1,517 adults (including 1,362 adults who say they are registered to vote) interviewed by telephone between July 29 and Aug. 6, 2008.The margin of sampling error for the full sample and for the registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points.