American Challenges with Health Care Costs

From Digital Culture & Society

Kearney, A., Brodie, M., Hamel, L., & Montero, A. (2022, July 14). Americans’ challenges with health care costs. KFF. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/

Contents 1 Article 2 Context: 3 Overview: 4 Strengths and Weaknesses: 5 Assessment:

[edit] Article

https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/

[edit] Context:

This article focuses on the various challenges Americans have to face regarding the rising costs of healthcare. From having to skip or delay medical treatment due to cost, being unable to pay for prescription medication, to dealing with health debt, to concerns over healthcare debt and unexpected fees. Alongside giving written reasons to describe their points, the author also provides various graphs with current data to help illustrate their points.

[edit] Overview:

The goal of this article is to highlight the issues Americans have had concerning their healthcare.

The first section of the article tackles how Americans have a hard time being able to afford various medical costs, to the point where they will skip or delay getting medical treatment. A few graphs are shown here, one showcasing how easy/difficult affording healthcare is, one showcasing the percentage of people who either delay or skip getting medical attention due to the cost, and a graph showcasing which area of health Americans are most likely to delay due to cost issues.

The second section goes into prescription costs and how Americans struggle to afford medication, which has caused some to either cut back on taking medication or search for non-prescription alternatives. In this section are two graphs, one showcasing the various groups that struggle with affording prescriptions, and the other showcasing how various groups cut back on medication use or find non-prescription alternatives.

The third section goes into healthcare debt and how around 4 in 10 Americans have some form of healthcare debt. In this section is a graph highlighting the various ways Americans have medical debt, ranging from past due bills, bills still being paid off, debt they owe to banks or collectors, medical bills being paid via credit card, and debt to a friend or family member.

The last section goes into how debt from healthcare has become a serious concern for a lot of Americans, with many putting healthcare debt in the highest forms of financial worry next to the likes of housing, utilities, and food. It is also estimated that around 6 in 10 Americans fear being hit with unexpected medical fees. In this section are two graphs, one showcasing the various financial woes of the average American, and the second graph showcases what percentage of various gender, race, and income families would struggle to pay off an unexpected $500 medical bill.

[edit] Strengths and Weaknesses:

In terms of strengths, this article does a great job going into detail over various aspects as to why Americans struggle with healthcare costs. Having each of their points accompanied by graphs based on surveys to help illustrate what the article is trying to say and each graph is backed up by recent data from credible sources. A minor strength this article also has is that it has a “main takeaways” section, which offers a concise summary of the points the article makes in regards to the topic, which makes it easy for the reader to get a good idea of what their talking points are.

In terms of improvements, while the article has lots of survey to pull from, it could use from getting data from sources besides the data they’ve collected with their surveys.

[edit] Assessment:

Overall, this article does a great job at what it set out to do, that being a highlight on the main struggles Americans have to go through due to the high prices of healthcare, from being unable to pay for medical costs and prescription medication to the point they skip medical attention altogether, struggling to pay off pre-existing medical debt, and having concerns over their medical bills. The graphs help illustrate the points the author makes and make the article enjoyable to read and easy to grasp.

Sr20fj 21:00, 1 December 2023 (EST)