United States of High Medical Bills: Are Americans Able to Afford Healthcare?

If U.S healthcare once felt pricey, today it's terribly extravagant. National health spending has reached its zenith at $5.6 trillion in 2025. Currently accounting for 18% of the economy, according to KFF— a surge so extreme that even insured Americans are losing their financial footing. To make things worse, out-of-pocket costs have doubled, settling at a high $1,514 per person.   

The pressure isn’t slowing anytime soon. Hospital care is eating up 31.2% of all U.S. health spending, with physician services adding to the fold with 20.1%. As prices continue to rise ahead, insurance companies increase premiums and deductibles, requiring families to pay up more. In a country riddled with inflated medical bills, the financial ground of families isn’t just shifting, it’s eroding. 

Decades of tweaking policy haven't closed the gap in who actually receives the care. 25.3 million Americans remained uninsured, roughly 9.5%. More than 8 in 10 (80.9%) people came from families with incomes below 400% FPL. Even jobs and moderate income aren’t adequate to safeguard households from the pressure of coverage gaps. Being uninsured isn’t the whole point; even insured people are vulnerable to overall cost sharing that undermines the entire protective value of insurance.  

At the same time, cost pressures continue to gain momentum. PWC’s forecast predicts that medical costs are going to rise by 8.5% in group insurance plans, and 7.5% for individual plans by 2026. Hospitals, drugs and therapies, particularly specialty medications, are the main accelerants.  

All this boils down to the fact that insurance, which once provided assurance and relief, now looks frail and ambiguous. For those who remain uninsured, the risk of being exposed to catastrophic bills is ever-present. On the other hand, insured individuals' substantial premiums and deductibles turn coverage porous into a partial, often shallow safety net. In both scenarios, Americans are priced out of health care, which is on paper, they have access to.