Forty-six percent of New Yorkers would not be able to take on an unanticipated $1,000 medical bill without going into debt, according to a Jan. 12 MetroPlusHealth Care Crunch Index survey.
MetroPlusHealth surveyed 1,010 adults across the five boroughs and surrounding New York counties in November 2025.
Here are six other points from the study:
1. Disparities persist with affordability. While 62% of white non-Hispanic respondents said they could tackle that bill, about one-third of Black respondents and Hispanic respondents could say the same.
2. Forty-two percent of New Yorkers had to substantially cut back money spent on leisure or lifestyle as a result of steeper healthcare spending.
3. One-third of respondents said medical debt affects their household.
4. Forty-seven percent of households earning less than $50,000 a year said healthcare costs take precedence over non-essential spending. That is a sharp contrast, considering 60% of households earning $50,000 to $100,000 and 74% of households earning over $100,000 felt that way.
5. While 79% of respondents said they and their peers were informed about health insurance, 60% knew the timing of open enrollment.
6. About half of Generation Z and Generation X respondents knew the open enrollment window, but there was greater confidence among millennials and baby boomers. Familiarity was also relatively low for households earning under $50,000 and respondents with lower levels of education.
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