In January 2019, 18.9% of people said there was a time over the past 12 months when their household has been unable to pay for medicine or drugs that their doctor had prescribed and that increased to 22.9% in September 2019. The research also found that 13% of U.S. adults - about 34 million people - report knowing of at least one friend or family member who passed away within the last five years due to their inability to pay for medical treatment.
There is a pronounced racial divide in knowledge of such deaths with 9.6% of whites saying they know of such an instance compared to 20.3% of nonwhites. Unsurprisingly, responses were drastically different by level of annual household income with 18.5% of people earning under $40,000 saying they know of someone who passed away because they couldn't afford treatment. That drops to 11.1% among people in the $40,000 to <$100,000 pay bracket and 9.1% among those earning $100,000 plus.
There is also a partisan divide on the issue with 16.4% of Independents and 14.8% of Democrats stating that they have knowledge of a friend of family member passing away under such circumstances compared to just 4.9% of Republicans. Even though all parties tend to agree that prices for U.S. prescription drugs are far too high, Republicans tend see much more progress than other groups when it comes to reducing those costs.
