Many Patients Can’t Afford Health Costs Even With Insurance

The number of Americans with health insurance has climbed to historic highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but within that silver lining is a darker hue.

Many Americans have policies that only provide limited financial protection, to the point that many patients report forgoing needed medical care or prescriptions to avoid being hit with punishing out-of-pocket costs.

Those are some of the findings from a new health insurance survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, a private research foundation that promotes high-quality, equitable health care.

The survey comes on the heels of other health insurance data, including some released by the U.S. Census Bureau from its annual American Community Survey, attesting that certain pandemic measures, particularly those Congress passed, have ushered more people into health insurance than ever before