Household budgets across the United States have come under strain, with many families weighing trade-offs — from what lands in the grocery cart to longer-term goals they once took for granted. Health-related expenditures are among the outlays some workers set aside when household budgets tighten, a pattern that can place additional strain on their broader financial footing.
Among U.S. workers surveyed by WTW in 2026, just over a third — 36% — reported feeling financially secure, a proportion that had slipped ten percentage points from the previous reading of 46% and represented the lowest figure the benefits consultancy had captured in seven years of tracking. Physical health and social connections drew positive assessments from those taking part, while views on personal finances moved in the opposite direction.
A growing share of workers are putting off visits to doctors and dentists, with personal finances cited as the driving factor. Roughly one in three employees — spanning all age groups — put off or skipped medical appointments over the past year due to cost concerns, even when covered by insurance, WTW research found. Courtney Stubblefield, who leads health and benefits at WTW, noted that workers view healthcare expenses as burdensome, with elevated deductibles and out-of-pocket costs acting as barriers to care.
The data pointed to workers between 40 and 49 as the group where financial vulnerability was most pronounced, with just 30% reporting a sense of financial security compared with roughly half of those aged 60 and above. Among all the age brackets examined, adults in their forties stood out — more than four in ten put off or skipped a doctor's visit because of the cost.
According to Stubblefield, people at that point in life often find themselves pulled in two directions at once — footing the bill for their kids while also tending to the needs of ageing parents. People in this bracket tend to carry financial obligations on two fronts — supporting both children and ageing relatives — a pattern that researchers sometimes refer to as the sandwich generation, and one that typically drives up the cost of family health coverage, according to Stubblefield.
Unpaid medical bills tend to ripple outward in ways that go beyond the treatment itself and what a person spends out of pocket. Around six in ten workers told WTW pollsters they anticipate reaching retirement in a financially weaker position than their parents did, with healthcare costs frequently cited as a barrier to building adequate savings for that period.
Research published by Prudential Financial indicates that roughly six in ten retirees holding at least half a million dollars in investable assets report unease around spending on leisure. Inflation, healthcare costs, and the broader squeeze on everyday living expenses were all put forward as contributing factors.
Wealth gaps tied to age are among the patterns captured in Federal Reserve statistics. Wealth accumulated across a lifetime shows up starkly in the numbers: households led by someone 75 or older held a median net worth of roughly $504,900 as of 2025, while those steered by adults under 35 held assets averaging just $33,000. Household wealth data spanning 2022 to 2025 show that families headed by someone between 65 and 74 years old saw their median net worth climb by roughly 37 percent, whereas those led by adults younger than 35 recorded a drop of around 23 percent over the same period.
