Health insurance policies and practices are reducing access to medical care, driving up health care costs and increasing clinician burden and burnout, according to patients and clinicians surveyed by Morning Consult for the AHA.  
 
Over six in 10 patients report experiencing at least one insurance-related barrier to care in the past two years, with four in 10 reporting worse health as a result. Most patients say they want their care provider, not their insurance company, to determine what care they receive; and over half report difficulty affording insurance costs and premiums.  
 
Over eight in 10 nurses say insurers’ administrative policies delay patient care, three-quarters say they reduce quality of care and over half say their job satisfaction has decreased as a result. Over eight in 10 physicians say these policies affect their ability to practice medicine and make it difficult to operate a solo practice.  

“These surveys bear out what we’ve heard for years — certain insurance companies’ policies and practices are reducing health care access and making it more difficult for our already overwhelmed clinicians to provide care,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “Health insurance should be a bridge to medical care, not a barrier to it for patients. If policymakers are serious about expanding access and addressing the health care workforce crisis, then we must hold insurance companies accountable for these harmful practices.”

Related News Articles

Headline
A Congressional Budget Office report released June 4 found that enactment of the fiscal year 2025 budget reconciliation bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H…
Headline
The AHA June 3 launched the first in a new video series, “Medicaid: Real Lives, Real Care,” highlighting the importance of Medicaid and why proposed cuts…
Headline
The Wall Street Journal today published online a letter to the editor from AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack responding to a recent editorial, “The…
Perspective
Public
After approval in the House last week by a one vote margin, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a sweeping package that would enact many of President Trump’s…
Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services May 27 announced it will increase oversight of states to prevent the misuse of federal Medicaid funding to…
Perspective
Public
In December 2024, Army 2nd Lt. Regina Benson celebrated her 105th birthday. At the time of her passing the following month, she was America’s oldest military…