"The good news is that health care provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act—including empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, which has not yet taken effect—may help slow these negative trends and provide more stability."

Each participant was grouped into one of three categories based on their reported ease in accessing and paying for medical care, prescription drugs included.

The findings follow those of the recently released West Health–Gallup Survey on Aging in America, which reported that one-in-three Americans—some 72.2 million people—have avoided seeking out health care in the last quarter due to cost.

"The year 2022 showed encouraging trends of increased health care affordability, post-pandemic," said Gallup senior researcher Dan Witters.

"The decline in 2024 is concerning in that it shows the fragility of American's purchasing power amid a high-priced health care system.

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