I don’t believe the headline, full stop. More than 8% of people go to the doctor. I don’t care how they defined “not going to the doctor”, if someone has a painful infection or trouble breathing, they’re going to the doctor.

What counts for the purposes of ‘medical treatment’? Does getting a quote for plastic surgery and not doing it count as ‘delaying care’?

Whatever polling was done is so broad that it’s meaningless, you might as well claim 100% of people forego medical care.

The headline is safe to ignore, as are most headlines. In the survey results it's 92% of insured adults delay (not avoid, delay) going to the doctor.

https://www.jgwentworth.com/resources/medical-emergency

I'm skeptical of the 92% figure as well (I'd guess that 60-70% of people have forgone advisable medical care at least once), but there's no question that a large percentage of people in the US avoid getting medical care because of the cost.

> if someone has a painful infection or trouble breathing, they’re going to the doctor.

That's not a given at all. I know people who have avoided going to the doctor for painful infections because of the cost. I've done the same myself.

"Trouble breathing" is an interesting thing, because there have been more than one instance in my city of people who didn't avoid going to the doctor but did die because they couldn't afford the ongoing care their conditions required.

Pfft. My buddy separated his shoulder snowboarding. Never went to a doctor. 20 years later it’s still janky