New Gallup Poll on Medical Debt

March 7, 2025

The census bureau has reported that in 2023

In 2023, most people, 92.0 percent or 305.2 million, had health insurance, either for some or all of the year.
In 2023, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage, at 65.4 percent and 36.3 percent, respectively.
Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employment-based insurance was the most common, covering 53.7 percent of the population for some or all of the calendar year, followed by Medicaid (18.9 percent), Medicare (18.9 percent), direct-purchase coverage (10.2 percent), TRICARE (2.6 percent), and VA and CHAMPVA coverage (1.0 percent).

A Gallup poll released March 5, 2025 estimates that 30 million Americans borrowed $74 billion dollars in 2024 to pay medical bills. This is 12% of US adults. The borrowing was concentrated among younger groups, 18% of those aged 18 to 29, but only 9% of those aged 50 to 64 and only 2% of over 65, Medicare eligible.

Black adults (23%) and Hispanic adults (16%) are each substantially more likely to report having borrowed money than their White (9%) counterparts.

Of those who say they borrowed money in the prior 12 months to pay for healthcare, nearly six in 10 (58%) report borrowing $500 or more, while 38% report borrowing less than $500;

The borrowing may reflect the high out of pocket costs on the insurance available. According to the 2024 Kaiser survey of employer health insurance, eighty-seven percent of workers with single coverage have a general annual deductible that must be met before most services are paid for by the plan, similar to the percentage last year (90%). The average deductible amount in 2024 for workers with single coverage and a general annual deductible is $1,787, similar to last year. The average deductible is higher for covered workers at small firms ($2,575) than at large firms ($1,538). Among workers with single coverage and an annual deductible, the average amount is similar to the deductible amount five years ago ($1,655) but is 47% higher than the amount ten years ago. The percentage of covered workers with a general annual deductible of $2,000 or more for single coverage has grown over the last ten years, from 18% to 32%.