If You’re a Woman, Under 50, or Dealing with Mental Health or Respiratory Illness in America, You’re More Likely to Be Healthcare “Cost Insecure”
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn on 7 July 2026 in Accessibility, Affordability, Anxiety, Boomers, Cardiovascular health, Chronic disease, Consumer experience, Consumer-directed health, Demographics and health, Depression, Diabetes, Financial health, Financial toxicity, Financial wellness, Food security, Grocery stores, Health access, Health and wealth, Health benefits, Health care industry, Health Consumers, Health costs, Health Economics, Health ecosystem, Health equity, Health finance, Health insurance, Healthcare access, Heart disease, Home economics, Medical banking, Medical bankruptcy, Medical bills, Medical debt, Medicare, Medicines, Mental health, Money and health, Obesity, Patient experience, Personal health finance, Pharmaceutical, Pharmacy, Pink tax, Popular culture and health, Pre-existing conditions, Prescription drugs, Retail health, Seniors and health, Sex and health, Shopping and health, Specialty drugs, User experience UX, Value based health, Wellbeing, Women and health
One-half of people living in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2025 said they could afford health care in America, according to research from Gallup and West-Health discussed in U.S. Adults’ Ability to Afford Healthcare at a Five-Year Low. Gallup and West Health polled 5,660 adults aged 18 and older between October and December 2025 as part of the organizations’ Affordability Index. This research defines Americans’ health care financial access in three tiers: Cost Secure, when people say they have access to quality, affordable care, able to pay for both needed
One of the best aspects of my work is collaborating across the health/care ecosystem to address how health citizens can deal with health care costs and and care for families. I'm grateful to have collaborated with Fidelity on their research into this issue, which you can access at the link here.
I'm gratified to be named on this updated list of 16 women's voices who are shaping health care. The curator of the list, Dorlee Michaeli, asked the question: "If someone wanted a smarter healthcare LinkedIn feed tomorrow, who should they follow today?" Glad to be one of these voices.
I’m celebrating America’s 250th birthday both patriotically and professionally, honored that the NLM included my 2010 paper, “How Smartphones Are Changing Healthcare for Consumers and Patients” as one of 250 items curated for the digital archive of 250 Years of American Medicine.