92 Percent of Americans Skip the Doctor Because It’s Too Expensive

By Tammy-Jo Pritchett · August 12, 2026

Opinion

I took my youngest to urgent care last month for an ear infection that wouldn’t quit. Sat in that plastic chair for two hours, got five minutes with a doctor, and walked out with a bill that could’ve covered a week of groceries. And I have insurance. The card in my wallet is starting to feel like a participation trophy.

So when a new survey from JG Wentworth says 92 percent of American adults have delayed or skipped medical care because they can’t afford it, I didn’t gasp. I nodded. So did every mom in my group chat. We’ve all done the math in the parking lot: is this really worth the copay, or can I tough it out until Tuesday?

medical bill, Explanation of benefits statement arrives three weeks after visit.

Ninety-two percent. Read that number again. That’s not a fringe problem. That’s not a “some communities” problem. That is the entire country sitting in the waiting room and then walking back out the door.

The survey of 1,507 adults found that young people between 18 and 28 are the most likely to skip care, at 94.2 percent. These are kids in their twenties, people. My oldest is in that bracket. She called me last spring crying because she had a lump under her arm and couldn’t afford to get it checked. She has a job. She has insurance. She also has rent and a car payment and $40 left over at the end of the month. She waited six weeks until it went away on its own. It did. This time. But I didn’t sleep for six weeks, and I don’t think I’m the only mother who has lived through that particular nightmare.

Women are more likely than men to put off care, the study found. You don’t say. The same women who manage the pediatrician schedule, the dentist appointments, the eye exams, the pharmacy runs, and the household budget are the ones looking at the checkbook and saying “I’ll go next month.” We put ourselves last because somebody has to, and the system knows it. They count on it.

Youngest child has ear infection that won't quit.

Here’s the part that makes me want to talk to a manager. Eighty-five percent of Americans carry medical debt. Eighty-five. KFF says that adds up to $220 billion. That is nearly a thousand dollars per adult, and that’s the average, which means plenty of families are drowning in far more. A Zocdoc analysis from February found a basic office visit without insurance runs $171. For a conversation. Fifteen minutes with someone who types while you talk.

And the Trump administration wants credit for “The Great Healthcare Plan.” They secured most-favored-nation pricing with 16 pharmaceutical companies. Sounds great until you learn that 953 of the 971 drugs covered under that deal went UP in price this past January. That’s not a plan. That’s a press release with a price hike attached. They got the photo op and we got the bill.

Patient sits in plastic chair at urgent care clinic.

Nineteen percent of adults are cutting pills in half to make prescriptions last. Thirty-one percent are swapping real medicine for whatever’s on the shelf at CVS. PwC says costs will keep climbing through 2027, with commercial healthcare trend hitting 9 percent. Nine percent. While wages sit still and inflation eats everything else.

I’ve done my own research. I’ve read the studies. I’ve also read the explanation of benefits that arrives three weeks after every visit, written in a language designed to make you give up and pay whatever they say. The gap between having an insurance card and feeling protected is the whole story, and nobody in Washington seems to think that’s an emergency.

They think we’re too busy or too dumb to notice. We noticed. We noticed every single time we stayed home.

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