Thirty-four million American adults said they knew of someone who died in the past five years because they could not pay for needed medical treatment — and 58 million said they could not afford the drugs they needed in the past year, a Gallup-West Health poll reported Tuesday.
The number of those knowing someone who died after not getting treatment totaled 13.4% of the respondents, while those reported an inability to pay numbered 22.9% of the respondents.
The latter figure is up from 18.9% in a January poll.
Gallup-West Health defined "medication insecurity" as "the inability to pay for prescribed medication at least one time in the past 12 months."
On the issue of prescription drug prices, 69% said that costs were "usually much higher" than what consumers should be paying, while 20% said prices "tend to be somewhat higher" than what should be paid.
Further, the poll found that two-thirds of the respondents — split evenly — reported that the Trump administration was making "not very much" progress or "none at all" in reducing prescription drug prices.
Here are some of the survey results:
Of those saying they knew someone who died because they could not pay for treatment, by annual household income:
- Under $40,000: 18.5%.
- $40,000 to less than $100,000: 11.1%.
- $100,000 or higher: 9.1%.
Of those citing medication insecurity, by gender:
- Male: 18.1%.
- Female: 27.5%.
On prescription drug prices, by party:
Usually higher than what consumers should be paying:
- Total: 69%.
- Democrats: 76%.
- Independents: 66%.
- Republicans: 64%.
Somewhat higher:
- Total: 20%.
- Republicans: 22%.
- Independents: 21%.
- Democrats: 16%.
The Gallup-West Health poll questioned 1,099 U.S. adults on Sept. 16-30 and has a margin of error of 3.7%.