How bad is America’s medical debt?
According to analyses by KFF (Center bias), a non-profit organization focusing on national health policies, total medical debt in the US surpassed $220 billion in 2024.
KFF found that about 14 million people, or 6% of US adults, owed over $1,000 in medical debt, and about 3 million people, or 1% of US adults, owed more than $10,000. When considering a broader definition of medical debt to include health care debt on credit cards or owed to family members, KFF found that as much as 41% of US adults were affected.
In general, studies have shown that Americans spend more both privately and publicly on healthcare than other industrialized and developed nations. This chart, developed from World Health Organization (WHO) data in 2025, revealed that US health spending is nearly double that of the second highest spender, which was Germany.
In December 2023, the US House overwhelmingly passed the “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act” in an attempt to overhaul how hospitals, the government, and insurance companies contribute to rising health care costs. Among its reform intentions were to make the costs of healthcare services and drugs more transparent and prevent insurance companies from buying up small practices to raise prices.
More recently, in late 2025, the Trump administration struck a price deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and launched the TrumpRx website to help Americans get prescription drugs at discounted prices. Months after its deal with Pfizer was announced, nine other major drug companies opted in to strike deals with the US as well.
In addition to legislative efforts, there have been non-governmental ones too. Notably, entrepreneur Mark Cuban launched a public benefit corporation in 2022 that aims to provide pricing transparency to buyers.
Also, a growing number of doctors have opted out of taking payments from insurance companies and instead offer what has been dubbed Direct Primary Care. Under the model, patients deal directly with their doctor, maintaining a direct relationship with them financially, which often takes shape in a subscription or pay-per-visit model.
Fox News (Right bias) reported that the "Trump administration's recent pullback on health insurance has left fewer Americans with coverage," leading some to utilize free healthcare provided by volunteer and nonprofit clinics.
Fox interviewed multiple people who drove hundreds of miles and even slept in cars to attend a pop-up free clinic run by Remote Area Medical (RAM), a volunteer-based medical group, to seek care they otherwise could not afford. Fox included a quote from RAM's CEO, who said that even with insurance, healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket costs are often "out of reach" for Americans.
NBC News (Lean Left) wrote that "hospital costs are among the major forces driving Americans deeper into debt." NBC quoted a Yale University professor of public health who said that "over the past two decades, [hospital] costs have risen far faster than any other sector of the U.S. economy." NBC also noted that President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act "will cause at least 10 million Americans to lose their health care coverage by 2034," citing the Congressional Budget Office for that number.
Stat News (Center) investigated how artificial intelligence (AI) scribes may raise costs. These scribes were originally intended to reduce physician burnout by taking notes and documenting patient visits, but healthcare professionals have found that the scribes often code visits as more intensive (therefore more expensive) than a human would. Stat noted that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts told the outlets that visit costs have risen 30% since 2021, and the insurer attributes that increase to providers' use of AI tools. Stat clarified that "it's unclear how much of that is actually due to AI."
Why have health care prices risen so much in the past few years?
Health insurance premiums in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace (ACA), which provides insurance to approximately 22.8 million Americans in 2026, increased by 21.7% from 2025 to 2026. Premium increases were growing by about 2% year-over-year from 2020 to 2025, marking a sharp uptick this year, according to the Urban Institute.
Additionally, people insured within the marketplace may be paying up to 114% more than they did in 2025 due to the additional ACA subsidies that expired at the end of last year, according to KFF.
Employer-sponsored health insurance, utilized by about 165 million Americans, increased its premiums by about 6-7% in 2026.
An investigation by NBC found that some patients were overcharged by their hospitals. The outlet highlighted an incident in which a patient was charged $99 for a blood test when the publicly listed pricing data showed a range of $8-61 for that test.
The insurance company United Health Care pointed out that the high price of healthcare can be cyclical, meaning that “if people perceive health care to be too expensive, they’ll often choose to forego it altogether, potentially putting themselves at risk of developing more serious health problems down the line,” thus creating more expensive healthcare needs.
Prescription drug costs have also increased exponentially over the past two decades, though have stabilized somewhat since 2015.
Shouldn’t this be a bipartisan issue?
The short answer? Yes, and predominantly, it already is. However, data, policies, and variable denotations add substantial complexities.
Denotations
“Healthcare” can itself be a divisive term.
Supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement often view naturopathic and preventative medicine as the crux of sensible healthcare. This is exemplified by a resurgence of raw milk consumption and shift away from artificial food ingredients such as Red 40.
Democrats, on the other hand, generally view healthcare through the lenses of affordability and access. This is exemplified by ongoing attempts to extend the Affordable Care Act and support for gender transition treatments.
Arguably, one of the most polarizing healthcare issues is abortion. While pro-abortion or pro-choice individuals generally view abortion rights as “reproductive healthcare” for women, pro-life proponents juxtaposingly view an end to abortion as “life-saving healthcare” for children.
Polling Data
“Healthcare has reclaimed its position as Americans' foremost domestic concern,” states a Gallup (Center bias) poll report from March, “returning to the top tier after several years when economic matters commanded more attention” (see below).
The data further exhibits the top domestic concerns of Republicans, Independents and Democrats, with Republicans being the only group without healthcare in its top three. While 80% of surveyed Democrats and 66% of Independents reported healthcare as their top issue, only 31% of Republicans agreed.
Source: Gallup
Policies
Policies and politicians play a large role in where individuals’ concerns lie.
With President Donald Trump in office and a Republican-led Congress, overall domestic concerns unsurprisingly weigh heavier on Democrats, according to Gallup. The poll shows that since Trump’s first presidential election in 2016, overall domestic concerns generally rise when a party is in the minority, and fall when it is in the majority.
Democrats’ concerns have materialized into multiple mass protests across the country under the current Republican leadership, including “No Kings,” in which millions most recently protested the Trump administration in late March.
Source: Gallup
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What’s being done about it?
