Fewer than 20% of adults in the United States know the cost of their health care products or services before receiving them, and almost all of them believe health care organizations need to make costs more transparent. What’s more, only about 3 in 10 American adults feel those costs reflect the quality of the products and services they receive.
These are some of the results of the new Bentley-Gallup Business in Society Report, which is based on a survey of more than 5,450 Gallup Panel respondents about areas in which businesses are improving their daily lives and society as a whole — and where businesses are falling short. (Gallup calls the Gallup Panel “one of the nation’s few research panels that is representative of the entire U.S. adult population.”)
The health care-related findings cited above were similar across all key subgroups and demographic groups, including race/ethnicity, gender, age, education level, geographic region, and health insurance coverage status. This, according to Gallup, suggests a society-wide lack of awareness about individuals’ healthcare costs, regardless of personal background.
Americans’ concerns about the transparency of their health care costs are reported amid record health care spending, according to Gallup. Federal reports indicate that U.S. health care spending grew by 4.1% in 2022, reaching $4.5 trillion or $13,493 per person. At the same time, a record-high percentage of U.S. adults report they’ve put off medical care because of costs.
The report also revealed how Americans feel about businesses and technology (79% of them don’t trust companies to use artificial intelligence responsibly), climate change (55% want businesses to speak out on the topic), wellbeing (66% say limited email outside of work would improve their wellbeing), and more.
“These survey results should matter to every business leader who cares about connecting with their customers and recruiting and retaining talented workers,” Bentley University President E. LaBrent Chrite said. “The companies that learn about and respond to what Americans expect and want will be the ones that survive and have the most enduring impact in our society.”