Health Care Value Survey Shows Wisconsinites Concerned About Affordability and Quality of Care: Provides both statewide and regional data

For Immediate Release: March 11, 2020
Contacts: Claire Zautke, (414) 940-3375, [email protected]
Robert Kraig (414) 322-5324, [email protected]

Health Care Value Survey Shows Wisconsinites Concerned About Affordability and Quality of Care

Provides both statewide and regional data

Statewide: Nationally, consumer worry about health care affordability is well documented but now—for the first time—a new survey reveals how affordability concerns and ideas for action play out in Wisconsin. Altarum Healthcare Value Hub, a national nonpartisan research organization supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in partnership with Citizen Action of Wisconsin, administered a Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey (CHESS) in Wisconsin. The survey of more than 1,000 Wisconsin adults was conducted from October 29, 2019 to November 6, 2019. Among its results, the Survey found that:

  • More than half (53%) experienced healthcare affordability burdens in the past year.
  • Four out of five (79%) are worried about affording healthcare in the future.
  • Nearly half (47%) of people who needed health care during the year encountered one or more cost barriers to getting care, including skipped needed dental care (31%), delayed going to the doctor or receiving a procedure (27%), and did not fill a prescription (18%).
  • Health care was listed as a top issue that the government should address in the upcoming year by 73% of respondents. The next most frequently cited issue was the economy, selected by only 43% of respondents.
  • Across party lines, they expressed strong support for government-led solutions.

Dr. Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which brought Altarum’s CHESS to Wisconsin, offers the following quote:

“This devastating new report on the state of health care affordability in Wisconsin should be a wake-up call to Wisconsin lawmakers, who in the current legislative session devoted virtually no attention to addressing the skyrocketing cost of medical services, medications, and health insurance. The extensive opinion research that serves as the basis for this report is the first deep dive in many years into the lived experience of Wisconsinites in coping with our health care system. It establishes beyond all doubt that there is an affordability crisis in every region of the state. This crisis has reached a breaking point and demands bold and immediate action from state government. There are many critical data points in this report, which should be must-reading for all state policymakers. The top two, stunning findings that jump out for me the most are that nearly half of all Wisconsinites have gone without care or medications because they could not afford it, and that health care affordability is by far the top public issue, easily beating the economy and taxes.”

Below are links to Data Briefs with statewide and regional survey results.

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