Gallup Finds 23 Million U.S. Adults Trapped In Job Lock By Health Insurance

According to Axios, a new Gallup analysis found that 23 million U.S. adults, or nearly a quarter of workers, are staying in jobs they do not want because they do not want to lose health insurance coverage. The survey found that 48% of respondents who called health care a major financial burden said they were staying put, while 53% of workers who feel a lot of stress from health care costs said the same. Gallup also found that 44% of workers with personal or household medical debt and 37% of those who borrowed money last year to pay medical expenses reported job lock, compared with 22% of workers who did not borrow. Workers with one or more chronic conditions were 12 percentage points more likely than those without chronic conditions to report job lock, at 29% versus 17%, and the rate rose to about 41% for those with three or more diagnoses. Women were more affected than men, with job lock at 30% versus 20%, and women were also 12 percentage points more likely to face financial problems from health care expenses.