Many U.S. adults with annual household incomes over $75,000 say they are facing financial pain because of the rising cost of health care.[@@]
Researchers at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, Washington, have published figures supporting that conclusion in a report on a recent survey of 1,003 U.S. adults ages 21 and over.
Although only 1% of the participants with annual households over $75,000 report being uninsured, compared with 24% of the participants with household incomes under $35,000, 34% of the affluent participants said they are “not too satisfied” or “not at all satisfied” with their level of out-of-pocket costs for health care. The level of dissatisfaction among the affluent participants was comparable to the low-income participants’ 41% dissatisfaction rate.
In theory, the affluent participants might be able to lower their out-of-pocket costs by buying health insurance policies with richer benefits.
Only 20% of the survey participants said they have responded to rising health care costs by looking for cheaper health insurance.