New Poll: Americans Rank Healthcare as Most Difficult Expense to Pay

FEBRUARY 27, 2019 CLARK LUNDAY

Debt, housing, devastating monthly healthcare payments –these are the top concerns of American households according to a new morning consult poll.

It’s not surprising to see that rising premiums are feeding anxiety across the country, but it is disturbing to see healthcare costs ranking at the top.

The poll shows 29% of households rank healthcare as the monthly payment that is the most difficult for them to pay, with 21% more ranking it as their second biggest monthly financial stressor.

To give you an idea of how crazy that number is: It is tied with housing as the top monthly financial stressor. The same amount of people are stressed about paying their monthly premiums and out of pocket costs as making rent or mortgage payments.

Food and transportation only clocked in at 4%.

Hard to think of a better indicator for how broken our healthcare system is.

How are health insurance companies, big pharma, and huge hospital groups getting away with it? Look no further than the latest corporate health blitz on Capitol Hill to kill Medicare for All. They’re lining up the heaviest hitters money can buy to stall popular legislation.

A general rule for Washington: Lobbying money spent directly correlates to harm done by the industry. Their profits come before public opinion.

We cannot fall into a pattern of thinking things were always this bad, or that they’ll always be this bad. Industry lobbyists and their allies in the media flood the discourse with counterprogramming, whatever it takes to temper enthusiasm for a change. And the industry can afford it because they’re getting rich, gouging hardworking families from every zip code.

This isn’t the first poll we’ve seen indicating our healthcare system is financially suffocating people, and it won’t be the last.

We know exactly how to fix this problem. It’s time to make Medicare for All a reality.