Issue Brief 10: Healthcare Access and Affordability: A Pressing Concern for Many Americans

The ability to afford needed healthcare is a major concern for working adults with employer-based insurance as well as for older Americans who are covered by Medicare. For them, affordability means making difficult decisions about whether they can, or should go to a doctor’s appointment, have a procedure their doctor recommends, or go to the pharmacy to fill a prescription.

This Issue Brief explores how the lack of affordable healthcare can create insurmountable barriers between economically vulnerable patients and necessary healthcare services, medications and procedures.