--- title: A Record Share of Families Delayed Medical Care Last Year Because It Was Too Expensive description: In a new Gallup poll, 38% of respondents said they or a family member put off medical treatment because of the cost in 2022. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Health and Wellness - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Health and Wellness - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-01-18T17:54:13.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:47:49.000Z' section: Health and Wellness tags: - Health Care - News word_count: 333 canonical: https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Man in Blue and Gloomy Doctor's office](https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-2023-People-Putoff-Medical.jpg) A record-high share of Americans say they are putting off medical treatment because the costs are just too high. A new Gallup [survey](https://news.gallup.com/poll/468053/record-high-put-off-medical-care-due-cost-2022.aspx) shows that nearly 4 in 10 Americans reported that they or a family member skipped care in 2022 because of the cost, the highest percentage ever recorded in the 22-year-old annual survey. ## What the research says Since 2001, Gallup has asked Americans: “Within the last 12 months, have you or a member of your family put off any sort of medical treatment because of the cost you would have to pay?” - In 2022, 38% of Americans reported that, yes, they or a family member put off treatment due to the price tag — the highest number on record at Gallup and, notably, a 12 percentage point increase from 2021. - What’s more, of those who said they put off treatment, 27% percent said the postponed treatment was for a “somewhat” or “very serious” condition — yet another record high for Gallup’s survey. While the trend is more prevalent among low-income earners (who make less than $40,000), people of all income levels postponed treatment for “somewhat” or “very” serious conditions in 2022 at a much higher rate than recent years. - 34% of low-income earners (less than $40,000) delayed getting treatment last year for a serious condition. - 29% of people earning between $40,000 and $100,000 said they put off treating their serious condition. - 18% of Americans making over $100,000 said the same. ## It’s no wonder In 2022, prices for just about everything from [eggs](https://money.com/egg-prices-higher-than-gas-costs/) to [cars](https://money.com/average-new-car-price-record-high/) soared amid the nastiest bout of inflation the country has seen in four decades. [Record-high inflation](https://money.com/inflation-2023-expert-predictions/) squeezed budgets and forced many Americans to focus on necessities like food and shelter while forgoing other expenses. As Gallup’s research suggests, medical care was chief among them. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Health and Wellness", "item": "https://money.com/health-and-wellness/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Health Care", "item": "https://money.com/health-care/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Record Share of Families Delayed Medical Care Last Year Because It Was Too Expensive" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/", "name": "A Record Share of Families Delayed Medical Care Last Year Because It Was Too Expensive", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-01-18T17:54:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/families-delayed-medical-care-2022-cost/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:47:49.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "A Record Share of Families Delayed Medical Care Last Year Because It Was Too Expensive", "articleSection": "Health and Wellness", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-2023-People-Putoff-Medical.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-2023-People-Putoff-Medical" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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