KFF Health News Chronicles Americans' Struggle With Rising Health Costs
In a year-long reporting project, KFF Health News documents how more than 130 Americans across the country are struggling to afford premiums, copayments, prescriptions, and medical bills as healthcare spending outpaces the broader economy. The piece profiles patients going uninsured, rationing medications, selling homes, and putting medical bills on credit cards, including an uninsured travel nurse billed $93,000 after a stroke and an ACA enrollee with a $10,000 deductible. Overall U.S. health spending hit nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, up from $3 trillion a decade earlier, and is projected to reach 20% of GDP by 2032. The reporting notes Congress's decision not to extend enhanced ACA subsidies and federal health program cuts, alongside a modest drop in prescription drug prices, as context for the affordability crisis ahead of the midterms.